


A trip full of cliches

by SniperGYS



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alolan Absol is born!!, F/M, THIS IS THE ONLY FANFIC EVER DEDICATED TO THIS SHIP!, also some other pokemons, i'm sorry for my bad english, there are some other characters involved but with minor appearance, this is stupid and weird, weird ship born of crazyness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2020-10-24 08:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20703293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SniperGYS/pseuds/SniperGYS
Summary: Gadion get forced to go with Lana to a fishing competition in Kanto, yet he can't stop comparing the trip with a bad romantic movie.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> You are probably asking yourself from where this weird shipping come from. It started as a weird idea but now, it become like one of my favorites.
> 
> I'll apreciate if someone wants to travel in this ship with me, and I would apreciate it even more if someone can help me to fix this, my english is not that good and my "only help" is called Google Translator, so, I'm sorry if something sounds weird or is wrong gramatically.
> 
> This is mostly based on the Pokespe universe, but you can consider it from a different universe if you want, the call backs to the manga are minimum.
> 
> Consider the characters around 14 years old and Gladion around 17.
> 
> That's all I can said for now, have a fun day!

“You can’t.”

“But mom!”

“I already said no.”

_And with that calm tone, the discussion was finished._

_It was a nice day in Akala island, through the window it can be see a good weather that encouraged people to go out and have fun, but for Lana, this day it had become frustrating after failing to convince her mother to accept her petition._

“I know the competition is important for you, but I can’t let you go alone so far from Alola.”

“And if I find someone that accompanies me, can I go?

“I guess so ...” _Answered his mother still doubting._

“Ok! See ya later!”

_Lana ran out of his house quickly, not giving her mother time to change her mind. As she ran to his destination, she called her friends for a quick reunion, this was an urgent matter._

...

“Well, why do you called all of us here?”

_Kiawe’s question was, without doubt, the same question everyone else had._

_After an emergency call from the Water type Captain, they had gathered as quickly as possible in the restaurant of Mallow’s family._

“Yes Lana, tell us why you called everyone here” _Questioned the owner of the place after seeing that her friend was watching like if she was analyzing them._

“Mmmmm, not everyone ...” _She answered after some seconds._

_They were in one of the tables from the place. Mallow, Kiawe, Sun, Hau, Moon, Lillie and a very annoyed Gladion, were sitting around the Water Captain; it seemed that the young man from the Aether foundation had been forced to attend the meeting by his sister._

“I called Mina like you wanted, but she never answered, you know she's always lost in her ideas.” _Mallow smiled nervously after sensing Lana’s stare on her._

“Ilima was busy too! He wanted me to apologies in his place.” _Said Hau quickly when Lana's glare turned toward him._

“Same with Sophocles, he is busy helping in the Space Center and Acerola is taking care of the children from the Aether’s house.” _Added Kiawe before receiving Lana’s death glare._

_Lana signed defeated. _“Is only us then”

“But seriously, why are we here?” _Asked Sun without real interest._

“Do you remember the fishing competition I won some months ago?” _Lana watched as everyone, except Gladion who looked confused, nodded positively._ “Since I won that one, I received a new invitation for an important competition in Kanto.”

“Lana that's great!” _Exclaimed Mallow with a smile._

“But my mom doesn’t let me go...”

“She can’t go with you?” _Asked Kiawe instantly as he started to understand the situation._

“She doesn’t want to leave my sisters alone, and they can’t miss school.”

“Well, it's a tragedy; there is nothing we can do then” _Commented Sun without giving more importance to the conversation._

“Courier, your tactless continues to surprise me even after these years.” _Said Moon before taking a sip from the cup of tea she was holding, ignoring the hurt glance of the boy_.

_Mallow stared at her friend with an understanding look _“You are searching for someone that can go with you, right?”

“She said that I can go if I find someone that goes with me.”

_Lana watched at her friends, hoping that someone offered their company, but everyone seemed busier looking around. Again, the only exception was still Gladion that was too busy drinking slowly from the can in his hand, everyone started to think that he was just pretending to drink from it in order to keep ignoring them._

_After some seconds of silence, Mallor finally decided to speak. _“I'm sorry Lana, but I can’t leave my father alone with the restaurant for too long.”

“And I can’t take free days in my job, I really need the money ...” _Kiawe was almost crying while talking, even if some years had passed, the poor boy was still struggling to get money to pay for his studies._

“I understand! One just can’t leave their work so easy!” _And after said that, Sun and Kiawe joined in a very exaggerated embrace, crying about the possibility of losing a day's pay._

“Courier, you don’t need a lot of money anymore...”

“Money is always necessary! Miss, why you don’t accompany her?”

“I would, if I didn’t need to return to Sinnoh in 2 days.”

“You’re leaving already?”_ Asked Lilie with a mix of surprise and sadness._

“I need to finish something, but is not going to take more than two weeks. We can continue with the project when I return. Lilie, I think you can take care of it for a while.”

_Lillie nodded happily. The help of the Poison type specialist had become very important for the Aether foundation over the last years. Now she devoted herself in traveling between Sinnoh and Alola, working in both laboratories and assisting as much as possible, allowing her to work alongside the Aether’s siblings in new researches projects for the foundation._

“Huh?” _Hau quickly looked around after noticing that Lana’s accusatory gaze was on him again._

“Your excuse?”

_Hau started to move his hands quickly_ “Uh ... no excuse but ... My grandfather wants me to accompany him to a Fighter specialist meeting in Hoenn, is like a convention or something.”

_Lana got closer to him, with a creepy glare._ “Sounds fishy.”

“I swear is the truth! You can ask my grandfather!”

“Then, no one can go…” _Said Lana with a tone of disappointment as she sat back down in her chair._

“But Gladion still hasn’t said anything.” _Commented Sun with a weird smile._

“Is true! My brother has nothing to d-“

_The conversation was interrupted at the time Gladion started coughing after choking on his drink, which to everyone surprise, resulted to not be empty. Moon instantly patted his back, trying to help him to recover._

_Kiawe started to laugh at the sigh._ “And I thought he was pretending to drink of the can just to stay silent.”

“Brother, you don’t need to react like that!”

“Stop ... deciding... what to do with my free…time …” _Gladion finally answered, still recovering air._

“You are not going to have too much to do if Moon isn’t around to help us.”

“But we still have other issues to do!”

_Lillie smiled at him_ “I can take care of everything, don’t worry!”

_Mallow clapped her hands, attracting everyone attention to her._ “Actually is a good idea for Gladion to go! If your mother is concerned about your safety, is better if a boy go with you.”

“WHAT?!” _Gladion jumped up instantly, hitting the table with both hands._ “Is nobody thinking about the problem in this?!”

_A silence took over the place again, while everyone seemed to think about his words, Gladion wishing for them to realize the bigger problem in going in a travel, alone, with a girl. However, Lillie stared at him with a smile._

“Gladion, we trust you.”

“W ... Y ... B ...” _The young man stared at his sister with the clear intention to scream something, but it was obvious that he was unable to finish what he wanted to say._

_Hau laughed at him before he started to talk._ “And I’m sure Lana's mother would not object, she already know you enough to trust in you.”

_An embarrassed Gladion stood alone listening as everyone started to go against him, listing all the good reasons for him to take the trip. He really wanted to say something and make them understand his concern, after all, it was easy to misinterpret the idea of a boy and a girl traveling alone; however, for some reason he couldn’t think in a good counter attack that didn’t leave him even more ashamed of what he already was._

_The only person not involved in the attack against him was precisely the cause of their situation. Lana was silent thinking in what to do, not paying attention to what the others were talking. After a few seconds, she looked up to him, capturing his attention._

“You don’t like the idea, right?” _She said softly, in a way the others couldn’t hear her._

_Gladion dropped into his chair again with a tired expression._ “I'm just saying that is not right.”

“I guess… I have to forget it.”

_The tone of defeat in Lana’s voice made him feel bad instantly. Gladion was not a fan of fishing, at the contrary, he found it boring to death, but he knew that the Water Captain loved the sport, and watching her sad affected him a lot._

_And that was something he could not deny._

_Since they met four years ago after the invasion of the Ultra Beast, courtesy of his mother, in Alola, for some strange reason the Water type captain developed a weird friendship with him._

_Even if their first meeting had not gone very well, when Alola began to return to normal, the captains of the 4 islands had shown interest in creating a friendship with him and Lillie. At first it was hard to get used to all of them trying to spend time with him and his sister, but the tension started to disappear gradually, for him was a bit slower than Lillie, but with the help of Ilima, everything changed for the best. The Captain of Mele Mele made for him an itinerary of training involving all the captains, and in Ilima’s own words, his best way to communicate with others was over fighting, training with the others helped him to get along better with them._

_But it was one day, when they were taking a rest, that in the middle of a conversation he said something that caused the Water Captain to start spending more time with him._

**"I will keep training and become stronger!"**

**"Well, if you want to become stronger, I can help!"**

_He didn’t need more than a day to realize that Lana had misinterpreted his words._

_His training sessions stopped being just pokémon battles, to incorporate an arduous physical training imposed by the Captain of Akala. It looked like if Lana hears the word “Stronger” and ran with it, in the wrong way._

_At first he didn’t cared that much, some physical training was actually good, but over time he began to find it entertaining and even curious, causing his relationship with Lana to increase quickly, until he started to spend more time with her than with the others. _

_In a way their newfound friendship had changed both of them, he had become more open to socialize with others and Lana had left behind his shy side. What it never changed was the aggressive and competitive side that Lana only displays in a battle, but that was something he wished to never change._

_However, with the passage of time, it was normal than the others began to joke about the relationship that had arisen between them; the first times he couldn’t help but react with anger and annoyance, always leaving someone with a punch in their face in the case it was a boy (Sun holding the record), or something broken in the case of the girls; in the end, he has to accept that his friends were incorrigible and it was better to ignore them. _

_But it was not always easy to ignore. In the 4 years of their weird friendship, his friends changed their childish teasing to actual insinuations that his friendship with Lana was more than just a normal friendship._

_In some way, it was true. She became like his best friend, but nothing more. The way they acted around each other never changed to indicate something more. But if there was something he couldn’t deny, was that he cared about her in a similar way he cared for Lillie; if someone dared to try to do something to her, he will make them paid and if something or someone made her feel sad, he tried to fix the problem._

_And here he was now, with his so called friends and even his own sister, trying to make him feel bad for denying Lana the possibility to go to her wishes competition._

_If he was the reason for her sadness, he would need to punch himself._

_He released a big sigh of resignation, calling Lana’s attention_. “Something tells me that I’m going to regret this… Ok, I’ll go with you.”

“But you don’t nee-“

“HE ACCEPTED!”

_The sudden cry of Sun made him jump off the chair immediately, wasn't them too busy to pay attention to both of them?_

“Perfect! Then, Lana can go to her competition without problem!”

“And my brother can take a break!”

“And they can bring us some cookies from afar!”

“Bring something that can be sold at a good price!”

“Make that double!”

“Why ... Did this look like if was planned?”_ Asked Gladion while looking at them angry._

_Moon patted him on his back, catching his attention. _“See the bright side, at least the trip is not with them.”

_Realizing that her friend was uncomfortable with the whole idea, Lana called for him nervously._ “Gladion, really you don’t ne- ”

“Is fine I guess...” _He interrupted her, and sighed again._ “What could go wrong? And Moon is right, I better go with you than with them... But anyway, the last decision belongs to your mother, not mine.”

“You’re right!”

_What Gladion obviously didn’t count, is that Lana's mother accepted the idea of let her daughter go with him to the distant region of Kanto without a single problem._

_When Lana sent him a message to inform him of the approval of his mother, Gladion realized that his last hope to save themselves, from this obvious bad idea, had been vanished and now he was forced to make the trip._

_But he couldn’t stop thinking that everything had been planned by the others; after all, what were the odds that everyone got busy at the same time?_

_It was definitely weird, and his only consolation was wishing that nothing go wrong in this unexpected trip._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gladion become the protagonist of a bad movie.

"Do you really don’t have a problem with this?"

_The next day after being forced by his friends to take the trip with Lana, Gladion not hesitated to visit the house of his friend. He still had high hopes of making her friend’s mother to seek a better company for his daughter, or better yet, convince her of leaving her two younger daughters in the care of someone responsible while she accompanied her older daughter to Kanto._

"Not at all, on the contrary, I feel better knowing she is going with someone responsible."

_Obviously, it seemed that luck was against him._

"But what makes you think she'll be safer with me?" _Something, he had to find something that can change her mind._

"Not that I did not trust the others guys but ... I cannot help thinking that Sun and Kiawe would be more interested in finding a way to get profit from the travel instead of taking care of my daughter." _She answered with an apologetic smile. After hearing her, Lana started laughing quietly at her side._

"Oh, sure…"

_That was an indisputable reason, Sun’s obsession with money ended making the young courier to get distracted most of the time and Kiawe ... Well, the poor guy just wanted to finish his studies and refused to receive help with his payments. _

_After trying to calm her daughter’s laughing at the comment (which Gladion also would have laughed if he wasn’t trying to be serious), the house owner continue. _"I know Lana will be safer with you. Especially if we consider Sun’s luck to get hurt. "

_That certainly made Lana laugh even more. Well, that was another indisputable point, Sun was a strange magnet for accidents like everyone had already discovered some years ago, in fact, everyone always joke about it._

_After a few minutes of conversation, Gladion had no option than surrender, his friend’s mother did not seem to have any reason to avoid the trip, and on the contrary, the more she thought about it, the more she considered it to be a good idea._

"You really don’t like the idea." _Lana told him after the conversation with her mother ended and the two were in her room preparing the last details of their trip._

"What make you think that?"

"Seriously, is not your obligation to come with me, at least not if it's not what you want."

_He dropped into the nearest chair. _"One thing is that I don’t like the idea and the other what I want." _After seeing the confusion of her frien he tried to explain himself better_. "Look, it's not that I don’t want to go, is just ... You and me alone ... Sun is going to annoy me for the rest of my life."

"I can’t see any difference."

_Touché!_

"Ok ... That's true ... And it doesn’t make me feel better."

"Now, you are sounding like if you really want to go with me."

"The only thing I dislike is the idea of going alone with you! But look what good friends you have, they ran away just as you started talking about accompany you, even Lillie refused to accept your request of coming with us. "

_Lana sat on the border of her bed and began to think about the matter._ "In a way, all of that was weird."

"This was done on purpose, somehow they planned it."

"If it was really planned, they must want something. Maybe they think that we cannot handle it.” _She gave him a look that clearly indicated she was ready to take any challenge_. "And if that is true, we can’t let them win, right?"

"YOU BET IT!"

_If their so-called friends wanted to challenge them to spend a whole trip alone, in that case he would not let them win in any way._

...

_The days passed faster of what Gladion wished. One day he was arguing with Sun for having gotten involved in the whole thing and the next he was already at the airport, luggage in hand, along with Lillie, Mallow and Lana._

"And remember brother, be good." _Said Lillie as he finished checking the label in his backpack._

"Please stop, I had enough with the hour and a half of our mother's recommendations."

"If my mom didn’t had to go with my sisters to school, she would start to do the same."

_Mallow smiled at her friend's comment._ "All mothers do that ... But I’m a bit surprised to hear it from... Lusamine… After all what happened." _Her gaze drifted to Lillie with an apologetic expression._

"She has really changed a lot, last night we even saw a movie with her, right brother?"

"More like we were forced." _Gladion answered with an expression of irritation._

_Lillie started laughing quietly recalling how his brother had been complaining all the time the movie lasted, highlighting everything that seemed wrong or illogical._ "You say that only because you don’t like that kind of movie, but you must accept that our mother had fun hearing your criticism."

_Seeing how uncomfortable the young heir to the Aether Foundation was setting recalling the movie, Lana could not help asking about it, maybe it was a subject she could use to have fun later._ "What it was about?"

_The question caused Lillie's eyes to transform into literal hearts. _"A romance movie! But Gladion kept complaining at every second.” _Her gaze instantly changed into a scolding directed to her brother._

"It was terrible!" _Gladion replied trying to hide how ashamed he was for thinking about it._ "Honestly, do you think that those things can happen? It was 2 hours of pure cliches you can find in any other movie with a better argument. "

"You sound like an expert of the subject." _Said Mallow with a smile._

"For some reason our mother developed a taste for those movies some time ago, we already know a great number of them thanks to her."

"Although, we rarely can watch them together."

_Gladion directed a glance to her sister. _"Yes, I would prefer to prevent it again." _Ignoring the reprimand look that Lillie send him back, he continue_. "The movie she chose yesterday was merely a collection of basic cliches from several other films: A couple end up on a journey together by mistake, coincidentally only find one room in the hotel and had to share it, they end up locked up and alone for a few hours to forcing them to spend time together, classic romantic dinner and an already so used scene in which the guy become the hero to save the girl from an attack, all to ultimately get the two in love and marrying at the end... Seriously, every part of it can be found in different movies th... "

_He shut up after realizing that the 3 girls were watching at him with different expressions. Mallow and Lillie had a weird smile while Lana looked confused over his long explanation, for not wanting to watch the movie; he did actually paid a lot of attention to it._ "What?"

_Mallow smiled while Lillie laughed quietly at her side_. "Are you describing a movie or your itinerary for the trip?"

_The young man was so ready to reply with the bigger indignation possible when he got interrupted by the sudden announce that they had to aboard the airplane._

_Five seconds later Lillie was pushing him to the airport hangar as she returned to remind him of the whole list of what to do and what not to do in an emergency, as well as his daily duties. She was really acting more like his mother than his sister._

_After a last goodbye hug, both Gladion and Lana had to aboard the plane and prepare for what was to happen._

_..._

_The trip to Kanto was quieter than he expected, but that was because he had spent most of the flight asleep, recovering from being awoke until late thanks to the movie from last night, and for his good luck, Lana didn’t minded not having his companion awake the whole time._

_When their finally managed to leave the airport after arriving, the sun began to set and the streetlights were starting to turn on. In front of them they watched a huge sign that read 'Welcome to Vermillion City'._

"So, what now?"

_ Lana pulled a note from her backpack and read it. _"Sun did me the favor to order our rooms in a hotel, since he is from Kanto he knows better this place."

"At least the cat can be useful."

_Once they arrived at the hotel chosen by Sun, he examined the place. The place looked actually expensive and that was a surprise coming from mister ‘Save at most as you can’. Lana went to the hotel manager to ask for their reservations._

"Oh yes, the room is located on the fourth floor, and is a-"

"I think you wanted to say: rooms." _Interrupted Gladion casually._

_Giving him a reproachful look for being interrupted, the manager replied. _ "I'm afraid there is no mistake, the reservation is for one room."

"What?" _His scream and the blow he gave to the table in front of him were heard throughout the lobby, attracting the attention of those who were around._

"I’m gonna ask to not raise your voice like that!"

_Giving a grunt at trying not to scream again, he moved closer menacingly. _"Then modify it for two."

"I can’t... The place is already full thanks to the number of competitions to be held during this week in the near areas." _He replied, trying to sound intimidating, but with the glare that the young man gave him back, it was obvious that he failed and that he was the one actually being intimidated._

_Lana took a Gladion by the arm to get his attention and prevent him to start a fight. _"Maybe we can we ask elsewhere?"

"I'm afraid that will be impossible." The hotel manager added. "All hotels in the nearby areas are saturated, really Kanto’s activity calendar is full at this time of year."

"Yeah I'm not gonna believe it until it see for myself."

_Having said that, Gladion left his belongings with Lana and went to investigate. All hotels can’t be saturated at the same time, right?_

...

"I can’t believe there are none available ..."

_The young man exclaimed in a tone of defeat after expending more than two hours running around the city and asking in every hotel he had found. Both of them were walking to their room, even if they managed to hold a conversation it was obvious that both of them were a bit uncomfortable._

"Maybe ... I needed to be more specific with Sun."

"I swear I’m going to kill that cat!!!"

_Upon arriving at the room, Lana opened the door and both of them looked inside from the door._

"Well, you can always sleep in the hallway outside." _Said Lana quietly._

"BUT WE HAVE TWO BEDS!"

_Once inside, they could see that the room was actually pretty nice, it was worthy of a four star hotel, but above all, Gladion could at least be thankful that Sun had the decency to ask for a room with two beds, or otherwise he did really would had to sleep in the hallway as Lana suggested. Of course that did not deleted his desire to want to murder his supposed friend._

"You think someone would say something if I release a Pokemon?"

_Lana’s question interrupted his vengeful thoughts, but before he could answer her, the huge Araquanid was out of her pokeball and ran toward the bathroom._

"You know? I don’t think the hotel guy would be pleased with a roaming pokémon in the room..." _He said after having the idea that maybe people from Kanto were not accustomed to pokémon from Alola and may not appreciate that a giant unknown bug were walking free around._

"She is not going to leave the room, you should do the same, let your pokémons know the place."

_And again, before he could do anything, she had already snatched one of his pokeballs and released the pokémon, by his bad luck, it turned out to be Silvally._

"Srrrpaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

_The huge Pokémon become excited to be free and began sniffing the room, pushing things with his metal peak._

"No ... Silvally Sit!" _He ordered when his pokémon started to scratch the carpet. Silvally obeyed instantly and watched at him waiting for the next order_. "Don’t break anything!"

"He acts more like a canine Pokémon now."

"Yeah for some reason his behavior become like that ... Maybe is not a good idea to keep him free."

"But he's a good boy." _Lana began to pet Silvally’s head, causing the pokémon to start moving his fin tail from side to side happily._

"The problem is not his behavior, but look, if people from here aren’t familiar with Pokémon from Alola, they are even less familiar with a pokémon that is not even native from the islands."

"No problem! The room is already secured and only I can open it. "

"What?"

_Quickly, she moved in front of the door, ensuring control of the door in a way that only she could open it. Now they really were locked up with the only company of their pokémon, and the thought of that detail, made Gladion began to panic._

"Now that we're alone without uncalled eyes, we must decide how we are going to sleep."

"Sleep?" _His level of alarm started to increase, or Lana wasn’t thinking carefully her words or she was doing it on purpose. _

"Yeah, choose which bed you are going to use."

"You ... you should not say it like that ..."

"Mmmm I can’t think of another way to say it..." _She started thinking about her words. The young man really can’t say if she was joking, which was most likely taking into account past experiences, or if she really couldn’t understand the severity of her words._ "Anyway, just choose a bed, unless you want to sleep outside."

"I don’t think the hotel managers accept that option ... I leave the choice to you, ok? I’m going to take a shower." _He said before pulling _Araquanid out of the bathroom.

...

_For the next hour Lana ordered her belongings in the room and made a makeshift bed on the floor for Silvally, next to the wall that Araquanid already had claimed as hers; but with each minute Lana was beginning to worry since Gladion still hasn’t leaved the bathroom._

_She knocked on the door to get his attention. _"Are you coming out already?" _After receiving no answer tried again_. "If you don’t come out, I’m going in!"

"HOLD ON! I’M OUT!"

_Immediately he opened the door, everything seemed normal except for a tub filled to the brim in the background._

"Were you trying to drown or something like that?"

"Eh ... Maybe?"

"If you try to do it again, I’ll break the door next time."

"It was a joke…"

"I know."

"Araquanid plugged the pipe of the tub, you would prefer to use the shower instead."

"Oh."

"And you better not say anything about this to the hotel manager."

"Okay…"

_While Lana took her time to bathe, Gladion dropped into one of the beds thinking. If the hotel manager found out that they had damaged the pipeline in less than an hour, probably he would bring them out of the hotel, especially if he found it had been because of a pokémon, and counting that there was no other hotel available nearby, it was better to keep it a secret to avoid problems._

_Lana’s cellphone started ringing, he did not know if she had called her mother already to inform of their arrival, so he take the device and examine who was calling. The screen displayed Lillie’s name wanting to start a video call. Confused at why his sister didn’t called him instead, she decided to answer._

"Lana how are yo... Brother?"

"Hey ..." _He answered surprised at the reaction of her sister._

"Why do you have Lana's cellphone?"

"Uh ... Lana is taking a shower, I thought it would be better if I answer."

"But why are you in Lana’s room? Why are you not in your own?"

_Gladion expression change to an angry one. _"About that, I have some question for that godamn cat ..." _Lillie looked at him even more confused, and he realized that maybe it was better to have Sun be the one explaining_. "Wait, we will get our answer."

_He started a group conversation adding Sun to the call._

"Hey! What time do you thi... Gladion? Aren’t this Lana’s number?" _Sun appeared on the small screen looking confused by the number_.

"YOU GODDAMN CAT! WHY DO YOU RESERVED ONLY ONE ROOM?!" _Sun began to laugh at his question, for him it was clear that this had been planned._

_However Lillie looked surprised at the news_. "What? You are in the same room?" _But her only answer was the deadly glare that her brother directed to Sun._

"They should thank me, a good amount of money was saved. That hotel is not cheap and it was the only one available." _Sun replied with a smile and a victory sign._

_Which only made Gladion even angrier. _"ARE YOU CRAZY? A GIRL NEED HER PRIVACY!"

"Now, I don’t think Lana cares about that, she has always been rare. Maybe something good could be get out of this." _Sun began to laugh again ignoring the reaction of the two siblings._

"Brother, Can you ask for another room?"

"The place is full, there is no place available throughout the city. Apparently this is the most active week in Kanto because of... "

"The celebration of the anniversary of the end of the war in Kanto." _Sun finished explained with a knowing expression._ "The gym leader of Vermillion is a former soldier or something, and at his request the whole week is dedicated to celebrate the end of the war, in fact the fishing competition is held in this week because is part of the celebration. "

_Both Lillie and Gladion looked surprised at Sun, they did not expected him to be so informed in the subject despite being originally from Kanto, but the Gladion’s surprise ended when his own cellphone started ringing. He was about to take it when Lana, who had just left the bathroom, took it and answered the call._

"Gladion, do you know if Lana already ... Lana?"

"Hey Mallow!"

"Great ... Now everyone will know that we are in the same room ..."

"WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT THE SAME ROOM?"

_Mallow’s scream, who obviously overheard Gladion’s word, echoed through the room, causing Silvally to jump up scared and Araquanid to fall from the wall she had called her provisional house. _

_After noticing that the door of the bathroom was open, Araquanid quickly ran inside. Seconds later the sound of a big splash and water falling to the ground was heard, it looked that the big spider got inside the tub again, causing Gladion to begin to fear for any new damage to the bathroom._

_Sun, who were able to watch the Pokémon in the screen, called his friends attention._ "Hey, the pokémon are not allowed in the hotel."

"Forget the Pokémon! Why did you leave them in the same room?" _Mallow asked again from the other cellphone._

"It was the best way to save money!"

_Sun and Mallow began to argue from one device to the other, making both Gladion and Lana to look at each other confused by the conversation between the two cellphones instead of calling each other._

"We better leave them." _Said Lana as she leaved Gladion’s cellphone next to her own one, still listening to the complaints and excuses from their friends._

"But they are wasting my minutes ... And yours."

"You are right…"

"HEY!" _Lillie's voice was heard from Lana’s cellphone making both Sun and Mallow to shut up._ "Is not a good idea to discuss this way and we better think about how to fix the problem."

_Gladion took the cellphone again, looking at his sister._ "I asked in all nearby places and there is nothing we can do."

"I guess you too will have to share the room ..." _Mallow started to think about it, when she suddenly started to laugh_. "This is beginning to sound like that movie you described at the airport."

_A few seconds of silence were necessary for Gladion to process that Mallow was right, ending up in a hotel room alone with a girl, was the number one cliche of bad romantic movies, and the revelation obviously was not of his total satisfaction._

_The whole trip is really a bad movie, and he is the protagonist._

"CONSIDER YOURSELF DEAD YOU STUPID CAT!!!!" He shouted completely flushed at the cellphone in his hand.

"Not trying interrupt a murder but ..." _Lana snatched her cellphone back._ "I need to talk to my mom."

_Mallow instantly reacted trying to stop her. _"Wait! First of all, avoid telling her that you both are sharing a room, if not, who will end dead after this, is going to be Gladion. "

"Oh wow, I can die but he doesn’t?"

"Sun, first this is your fault and second, Lana could be banned of making another trip in the future."

"Thank you for caring about me ..." _Added Gladion, realizing that Mallow wasn’t worried about possible damage to his person. Before he could continue with a complaint, Silvally began to pull his clothes with its beak_. "What’s wrong pal? Are you... OH DAMN IT!"

_Water had begun to spread through the room, it looked that Araquanid caused a major disaster in the tub._

_..._

_Three hours later, Gladion was finishing drying the water in the bathroom. _

_It was common in hotels to clean up in the morning while guests were out, so he had to keep in secret the fact that a huge water type bug had broken a pipe in an attempt to create her own pond. Now he understood why Lana worked hard in making a small pond in the backyard of her house._

_Once he finished fixing everything to look as most possible like it was when they arrived, he threw himself on the bed to rest. The room lights were off, Lana was already sleeping, Silvally was snoozing off in his makeshift bed and Araquanid had returned to the corner of the room._

_He took his cellphone to see a message from Hau._

**'Is true what Sun said? Are you seriously sleeping with Lana?'**

"STUPID CAT!" _He shouted in a sudden wave of rage._

_Instantly a pillow from Lana’s side hit him on the arm, drawing his attention._

"DON’T SCREAM LIKE THAT!"

"Oh ... Sorry." _He said ashamed as he returned the pillow._ "Sorry for waking you up..."

"I know you don’t like the idea of we sleeping together, but that doesn’t mean we need to stay awake all the time."

"Please... Don’t say it like that." _He said after recalling Hau’s message, it was obvious that the future kahuna of Mele Mele had misinterpreted the situation._

_Calming down, Lana sat on the bed with a meditative pose._ "I can’t understand what your problem is, it's not like we haven’t slept in the same room before."

"But it's not the same!! That was years ago, when we were kids and the others were with us! Things are no longer like before you know ... Now whatever you do or say could be misinterpreted ..."

"I know that." _She replied with a little smile_. "I’m just messing with you."

"I thought so... Arg! We better go to sleep."

"Right, we are going to have a bussy day."

"Oh, you know what to do aready?"

"Yes! We are going to visit the gym from Cerulean’s city!"

"Gym?"

"The water type gym in Kanto!"

_Lana was literally sparkling with excitement, now Gladion understand why she had decided to arrive a day before the contest._

_Maybe sharing the room with her was not in his plans, but he knew that a gym was synonymous of Battles, and that was something he really liked. _

_Perhaps the trip had not been a bad idea after all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lana know very well, that if you want to make Gladion to do anything, you just need to make it a challenge! He can't say no to a good competition!
> 
> If someone read this, if you see any error or typo, please tell me, my only help is called google translator


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kanto discover the existence of Alolan Absol and Gladion learn that is more easy to talk when the other person canot see him back

_One of the most normal things to see at the start of the day is the sunlight coming through the window, and that was what Gladion expected. Definitively it wasn’t in his mind that instead of the sunlight, he would be greeted with the eyes of his current roommate at no less than 5 cm in front of his face._

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” _He asked alarmed as he moved away as he could without falling off the bed._

“Making sure you aren’t dead! I've been trying to waking you up for half an hour!” _Lana answered with an obviously false angry expression, it looked more like if she was trying not to laugh._ “I even thought in telling Silvally to jump over you, but I don’t think you would like it.”

_The idea seemed to scare him, not because of the pain that could result from having the claws of his pokémon over him, but...._ “It could break the bed. That would be a big problem.”

“I thought so.” _Lana sat on the edge of the bed_. “But if something were to happen, at least Sun will be the one paying the extra expenses, for some reason he leaved everything at his name.” _She explained while Gladion was searching his clothes for the day._

“Really? Mmmm then he will have to pay for the broken pipeline... Maybe it's not bad idea to let Silvally break something.” _Lana pushed him to rush him to change his clothes, but it was obvious that she found the idea funny_. “The damn cat deserves it!” _He added as he closed the bathroom door, silencing Lana’s laugh._

...

“Taking the long way is definitely quieter.”

_More than an hour later they were on their way to Cerulean City’s gym, for which they found they could take one of three options: Take the underground path that everyone use, cross the great city of Saffron or go around the city of Saffron to avoid the eyes of curious people but taking longer to arrive._

_Since the quicker way was to use Silvally as transportation, the decision ended up being easier than they thought. Now with both aboard the 'Silvally express', they were heading at full speed around the forest areas that surrounded the cities and main routes._

“We would be in the gym already if you hadn’t oversleep.”

“Hey, cleaning the mess in the bathroom was more tired of what it seems, and it was your pokémon who caused it.”

“You could have left the staffs to deal with it.”

“Of course not, if they find out what happened, they will kick us out.”

“Or they could just charge the cost to Sun.”

“Now that you mention it, that could have happened... That certainly was something I had not thought before… But yesterday you never mentioned that the room was under Sun's name!”

“Well, maybe I forget after all the telephone discussion all of you had last night.”

“That was the fault of the goddamn cat!”

“And now you are taking us around the longest path...”

“With Silvally time is no problem, but it is better to avoid people since they could ask questions I prefer not to answer.”

“You should not worry about that, I have an idea.” _Just when Gladion was about to ask her what was her idea, Lana pointed at something in front of them._ “I think it's there.”

_They reached the outskirts of a city. Most of the buildings were painted in different shades of blue, alluding to its name._

“I’ll let Silvally take a break.” _He said while returning the pokémon to his pokeball._ “Let’s search your gym.”

_After walking for a while around the city, they found themselves facing the big building of the water gym. The building seemed to see been decorated for Kanto’s celebration and people where coming in and out of it happily._

“I thought that once we arrived you would ran inside.” _Gladion commented turning to face his companion expecting to see her too excited to move, only to find the opposite._ “Wait ... What?”

_Lana was watching the gym with an unreadable expression, it seemed she was slightly shaking_. “This ...” _She started playing with his hands in an attempt to ignore his question._ “I ...”

_Gladion was hit with a sudden realization, it was as if he had returned years ago when he had just met her and she struggled with her constant shyness. Apparently, even if it was a phase that she had left behind already, the simple fact of being in front of the place she had always wished to visit, made her return to her shy side again._

“Come on, you aren’t going to-“

“Are you here to visit the gym?”

_They both turned around to find a woman some years older than them, with sports clothes and short hair. Instantly, Lana jumped in surprise and grabbed Gladion’s arm, almost knocking him off balance._

“What happened?” _Gladion asked confused by the reaction of the girl._

“I’m sorry! I didn’t wanted to scare you.” _Said the person in front of them._

_Lana denied quickly but she seemed to make a great effort in order to say something. _“No ... No ... It's just ... You ...” _With every word, Gladion could feel how she increased the hold on his arm._ “You ... You are the gym...”

“That's right! My name is Misty, the Gym Leader of Cerulean City.”

_After convincing Lana of enter the building, they found themselves facing a battlefield obviously planned for water type pokémon. Areas of land floated in a huge pool surrounded by benches and galleries in which people walked admiring the place or taking photos. Several huge fish tanks adorned part of the building, inhabited by different species of marine pokémon that attracted the attention of visitors._

_Certainly the gym was made to thrill any water type trainer, so Gladion could not help his curiosity about the reaction of Lana, who did not seem to have any intention of letting go of his arm or speak with her idol. In a way, he found the newly recovered timidity of his companion as something..._

**Cute.**

_Gladion hit his forehead with his free hand. Cute, seriously? He shifted his gaze back to Lana ... It really made him remember when every time he talked seemed to scare the captain, back then, her shyness caused him frustration at not knowing how to act around her, and now it made him feel different?_

“So you guys are from Alola? Is not common to have visits from there, I have never seen an original pokémon from that region actually.” _The gym leader took no time in starting a conversation after learning from where they were come._

_It surely must be one of the best days of Lana’s life ... And she was unable to enjoy it thanks to the nervous attack she seemed to be suffering at that time._

“I heard the Alola League is new and entirely different from other regions.”

“Aaaah ... Yes, Professor Kukui started it not so long ago.” _Gladion was forced to keep the conversation thanks to Lana’s silence._ “I guess it is very different since we lack Pokémon gyms.”

“Then it's true! I heard that instead of fighting gym you guys take trials imposed by captains, but since I have never met someone from Alola before, I don’t know how that works.” _The leader seemed truly interested in learning more about the region._

“Well ...” _Gladion turned to see Lana, she was looking at the floor trying to avoid saying something. However, his gesture was enough to make the gym leader understood what he meant._

“NO, REALLY?” _With an emotion equal to that of a child getting his first Pokémon, Misty moved in front of Lana drawing her attention._ “Do you want to have a battle?”

...

_After hearing the word “battle”, Lana looked to come back to her normal self; although she still looked somewhat shy, she now seemed more willing to talk with the gym leader. Gladion could not deny that when it came to battle, he and Lana found easier to interact with others._

_Now both were inside the gym's battlefield, drawing stares of people visiting the place. The idea to see a battle from the gym leader was, certainly, of their full attention._

“Well, let's start!” _Misty threw his pokeball into the combat area, releasing a Staryu. Despite being a not evolved pokémon, both trainer of Alola could see how strong it was. Lana released her pokémon in the water area. A small Wishiwashi started swimming around the unknown place._ “Oh, you are a water type trainer, this is going to be int-”

“Double Edge!”

“What?” _The little fish slammed Staryu with all his force, throwing it against the edge of the water field, but the surprise in the gym leader’s face was not because of the force of the tiny pokémon, but rather by the sudden change in the expression of his trainer. The young girl in front of her was no longer shy like a few minutes ago, she now was looking at her with an expression of concentration and determination that would scare anyone._ “Apparently this will be more interesting than I thought… Staryu, Gyro Ball!”

_At the order from both trainers, the pokémon started attacking each other measuring their strength. Gladion tried to figure out who had more chance to win. It was obvious that using water type attacks would be ineffective, so the skill of their trainer would have greater weight in the battle. And for experience, Misty had the advantage, but he was confident that Lana had something planned… Probably._

“Can you use the school form?” _He asked after Wishiwashi was hit hard by a strong spin of Staryu. Even if the little fish was strong, his opponent had more physical strength._

“I need a lot of Wishiwashi for that, and for all I know, there aren’t a place in Kanto in which they live. But forget that, I have an idea.” _Lana replied with a smile that anyone could describe as creepy._

_Wishiwashi looked at Lana and without receiving any order, nodded slightly before returning his attention to his opponent. He slowly approached a curious Staryu and to the surprise of everyone, started to cry very loudly._

_Staryu turned to see Misty confused in what to do, but the leader could not understand what was happening neither, even visitors who were watching the fight were confused at what happened that made the little pokémon cried like that. _

_Gladion instantly understood what was happening. _“Tearful look?” _He said for only Lana to hear him, making the girl to smile affirmatively. Wishiwashi was not actually crying, he was performing one of his attacks in an exaggerated way. _

_Still confused with what was happening, Staryu approached the little fish to try to comfort him. _“Staryu wait!” _But Misty's warning came late, Staryu was already too close, just as Lana expected. _

_“Double Edge!”_

_Wishiwashi crashed with full force into Staryu sending him against the other end of the field, both pokémons falling unconscious by the impact._

“Between Staryu defense and proximity, the counter damage was too much...” _Said Gladion after thinking about what happened. Wishiwashi was very well known in Alola for not having a high level of attack or defense in its solo form, their ability to fight was better showed in group, so, for a single Wishiwashi to hold a fight with a stronght pokémon from a gym leader, it talked a lot about his trainer. And it was details like that one, what made Gladion to hold a high respect for his friend._

_Lana called back to his pokémon._ “Umm but he did his best!” _She said with satisfaction._

“And it seems that someone already forgot her shyness again.”

“Oh shut up.” _She responded, slightly punching his arm._

_Misty approached both trainers after returning her pokémon._ “It seems you feel better. Why not make this a double battle?”

“Double?”

“Yes, you and your boyfriend against me.”

_Gladion hit his forehead with his hand again. Classic. It was a classic cliché from romantic movies to confuse the guy with the boyfriend of the female protagonist, and even if he expected something like that to happen, it doesn’t stopped him of blushing._ “I’M NOT H-!“

_Lana interrupted him immediately, ignoring his protest._ “Perfect! Let's make this a water type battle!”

“That's a good idea!” _Misty said before returning to the other side of the battle field._

“HEY!” _Gladion got closer to Lana._ “Did you forget that I don’t have a water type pokémon?”

“Just change Silvally’s type.”

“But I told you th- HEY!” _His protest arrived late, without knowing how, Lana had already taken out Silvally’s pokeball._

“SIRRRRRRRRRPAAA!”

_And just like he expected, the people who were watching the fight quickly began to whisper about his Pokémon. Even if they had no knowledge of pokémon from Alola, the unnatural appearance of Silvally tended to draw more attention than usual. _

“Now we just change his type.” _Lana, surprising her companion again, threw the water memory to Silvally, making his body to change into a bluish color._ “And now he can joint the fight!”

“How do you keep stealing my stuff?” _A confused Gladion asked, checking his bagpack to try to understand what was happening._

“With practice.”

“That ... That don’t make me feel better... Now I begin to wonder how many stuffs you had stolen without me noticing.”

“I also have your wallet!” _Lana replied cheerfully._

“WHAT?”

“Which pokémon is that one?” _Misty's question made Gladion to get paralyzed, that was the question he didn’t wanted to answer._ “I had never seen anything like it.”

“Ah, he…”

“He is an Alolan Absol!”

“A WHAT?”

_Both Misty and Gladion asked confused with that answer. Gladion rapidly covered his mouth with both hands, that was his pokémon and he should not look confused with his own pokémon._

“Alolan Absol?” _Misty asked again surprised while Gladion was trying to keep his mouth shut down._

“Yes, some pokémon adapt to the environment and change their appearance and type, he is a recent discovery!”

_The visitors who were watching the fight, quickly started to take some pictures of the 'newly discovered Pokémon’. Gladion was sure that if those photos came to social networks, the professors from Alola will certainly have too much to ask them about it._

“This is going to be an exciting battle!” _Misty exclaimed cheerfully._

_Gladion got even more close to Lana, for only her to hear. _“You know, you're going to give me a heart attack with your ideas.”

“You wanted a solution and now you have it.” _She answer smiling_. “Come on, anything for a battle.” _She said, changing into battle mode again. She then called Araquanid into the combat area, where Misty’s Starmie and Lanturn were already waiting._

“Sometimes I don’t know if you impress me or if you scare me.”

_The good side of spending the last years training with the captains, was that he had learned tactics for double battles, but the biggest advantage at the time was to have spent more time training with Lana. Silvally, who was too used fighting side by side with Araquanid, was used to deflect the coordinated attacks from Lanturn and Starmie, giving room for the huge spider to attack at the right times, following a basic routine learned in training._

“Apparently you hasn’t forgotten how to fight in doubles.” _Lana suddenly commented._ “Even after you stopped practicing.”

“I think it's something I cannot forget even if I try.” _Gladion finished his comment with a smile. _

_For all the complaints that the young man had been saying with everything related to the trip, Lana could tell that at time, he was having fun; both Silvally and Gladion had similar expressions of fun and it made her feel better. _

_The reason for deciding to visit the gym was not just to fulfill her dream of meeting the water type gym leader, but also to let Gladion distract himself and forget about his problems for a while; it was the least she could do for him after involving him in the trip. It was luck that the two of them had the same love for battles, which undoubtedly was one of the biggest reasons that had them getting along very well._

“Starmie, Lanturn! Go with Thunderbolt!” _Misty's voice made Lana return her attention to the fight. Lanturn and Starmie combined their attacks willing to take Silvally down._

_Lana smiled at his companion. _“You already know what to do.” _There was no need to explain more, their synchronization for double battles was still good as ever._

_Silvally, who was in front of Araquanid, followed Gladion command and dodged the attack at the last moment, causing both attacks to deal a good level of damage to the bug pokemon._

“Use Mirror Coat!” _Araquanid directed her attack onto Starmie, Lanturn moved to try to help its partner, ignoring the fact that Silvally approached from behind._

“Silvally, Crush Claw!”

...

“Really, this was an interesting battle. You two are a very good team.”

_Sometime later, the three were at a restaurant from Celadon City. After the end of the battle, Misty had invited them to take lunch and continue talking for a while, especially since Lana was finally able to hold a conversation with the gym the leader._

“You can take this.” _Misty handed Lana what looked like a small drop of water_. “Consider this badge as a memento of the gym!”

“Ah, wait, let’s exchange then!” _Lana pulled a crystal out from her backpack._ “A Z crystal, is what we give in Alola.”

“Oh thank you!” _Misty looked at the little blue crystal._ “Let’s take a picture together.”

“Sure!”

“And your boyfriend too!”

“I AM NOT HER B-!“

“Yeah, yeah, just come here!” _Lana took him by his arm and pulled him closer, taking a photo with her cellphone before he had time to keep complaining._

“What are you two going to do now?” _Misty asked after they leaved the restaurant._

“I want to go the route in which the fishing contest is hosted, it would be nice to see the place in advance.”

“Then you have two options, you can go through Saffron and from there to Lavender, or go the Rock Tunnel and cross Lavender.”

“I prefer routes with fewer cities." _Gladion commented after thinking that the less people saw Silvally, the better._

“It's a slightly longer route, but your Alolan Absol is fast, he can do the trip quickly.”

“Alolan Absol?” _Gladion asked confused, but before he could say more, Lana quickly punched him in the ribs._ “Arg! Ah ... Yes! Absol ...”

_Even without understanding what had happened, Misty just laughed at the behavior of her visitors. _“You're weird, but you two seem to get along. I hope you both have a happy future.” _Before Gladion could complain about the comment, Lana went back to shut him up with another undisguised punch, causing Misty to laugh again._ “If one day I travel to Alola, I’ll remember to visit you both, maybe I could even search one of those Absols.”

“Oh please, don’t look f-“

“It will be difficult, but with some luck you can find one!”

_Gladion again hit his forehead with his hand. _“By Arceus, you're the worst...” _He whispered to Lana, earning him another punch from the girl._ “Arg!” H_e release Silvally wanting to leave quickly before Lana could give more misinformation about his pokémon._

_After a last series of photos with the 'Alolan Absol', both finally bid farewell to the gym leader and took their way towards the Rock Tunnel._

“Oh right ... I hope you have a Pokemon with Flash!” _Misty warned before they disappeared from her view._

“What did she said about a flash?” _Lana asked confused._

“No idea.”

_They leaved the city taking the route that the leader had told them. With a fully healed Silvally, it would not take long before they reach their destination._

“I hope you realize that if those pictures of Silvally get published online under the name of ‘Alolan Absol', could cause confusion when we're back home.” _Commented the boy after a while._

“Come on, you wanted a solution and now you have one.”

“Uhm, though I think this was a terrible idea, I must give you the credit that it was ingenious.”

“Although you nearly ruin it with your comments.” _Lana replied with a smile._ “You have no sense of fun.” _She finished with a slight blow in his arm._

“I think my fun is dying every time you punch me.” _He replied jokingly._

_After following the river that Misty mentioned, they reached the entrance of a cave that was beside a pokémon center. The leader had described the place as fairly used by people, however, at that time they could not see anyone coming in or out of the cave. By the Pokémon center windows they could see that there were a lot of people inside, but decided to ignore it, it was better not to waste their time._

“Now we just have to cross it.”

_They entered the cave after returning Silvally into his pokeball, ignoring the warning signs that were near the entrance and the walls of the pokémon center._

“If something I have learned from caves, it's that: or you bring a good amount of repels or you need a way to avoid wild pokemon.” _Having said that, Gladion released a Crobat from a pokeball_. “Crobat got used to keep wild pokemon away with his ultrasonic waves.”

“Oh, you're a good boy.” _Lana commented as she patted the head of the bat who responded happily._

_Gladion smiled at his pokémon. _“They're all good ... Huh?”_ He stopped when he noticed that everything began to turn darker around them._

“Now I understand why Misty mentioned the Flash...” _Lana said after reaching a point in which they were unable to see anything._

“The good side of this is that Crobat keep away the wild pokémon, the bad side ... I can’t see from where we arrived and none of my pokemon know Flash_._”_ He looked at both sides, but it was pointless, he was unable to see beyond 10 cm away. A pressure on his right arm told him that Lana had returned to cling onto him._ “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think it's a good idea to get lost...”

“Right.” _Crobat started to emite a sound, helping them to follow him._ “Perhaps we can use the light from the cellphone?” _Carefully he took out his cellphone and turned it on, creating an area of light around them._

_With their new source of light, they got deeper into the cave, finding guiding signs that indicate the paths to the exit._

“How big it is this cave?” _Gladion asked after a while. The time on the cellphone screen made him realize that more than an hour has already passed since they entered the place_. “I thought it would be a quick walk.”

“I think you have something else to worry about.” _Lana pointed at the cellphone screen, a red number in the corner indicated that the battery was nearing depleted_. “The light is taking too much energy... Should I use mine?”

“No!” _He stopped her instantly_. “We need a way of communication in case we get lost or something worse, but keep it at hand for emergency.”

_A while later, they found a beam of light around somewhat blocking the road. Crobat stopped over a sign that indicated the exit of the cave._

“This godamn stone is blocking the exit!” _Gladion threw a punch to the stone in front of him, only to have his hand bouncing back to him._ “What the hell happened?”

“Wait ...” _Lana got closer and touched the stone. Unlike what she expected, it wasn’t hard and rough, but soft and fluffy; she leaned entirely on it and with the help of the small amount of light around the obstacle, she observed that the fur was greenish. The noise from the other side confirmed her suspicions._ “It’s a sleeping Snorlax. This is probably why we couldn’t see anyone inside the cave.”

“But what the hell is a Snorlax doing here?”

“Sun once commented that it was normal to find Snorlax asleep in the roads of Kanto.”

“Fantastic! And we are so lucky to get trapped here because of one! ... Any idea how to wake it up?”

“Mmmm an Awakening could do, but I think the most effective way is a Poké Flute.”

“And something tells me...”

“We have none.”

“Perfect, this is perfect! Let's find another way out!”

“Calm down, I don’t think it’s a go-“ _Her words were interrupted when Gladion took her hand and lead her back from where they came with the help of Crobat._ “This isn’t a good idea!” _She said again once they had returned to the last bifurcation they crossed._

_With the light from his cellphone, Gladion attempted to read the signs in the cave’s walls._ “Why not? We only need to find another way out.”

“Because ...” _Before she could finish her sentence, the cellphone made a sound indicating the end of the battery and shutted down, leaving them in complete darkness._ “You had no battery left.”

“You got to be kidding me!”

“And now we cannot return with the Snorlax.”

_Gladion collapsed against the wall of the cave._ “Maybe we can call someone.”

“Do you know an emergency number from Kanto?” _Since he didn’t reply, Lana had to interpret his silence_. “I’m going to call Mallow.”

“NO!” _With the help of the light from the other cellphone, he grabbed her hand and made her sit next to him._ “If you call her, then you’ll have to explain what happened and I’m sure they aren’t going to stop nagging me about it... Calling Sun would be even worse ... And Lillie could worry too much.”

“You aren’t helping... I' going to call Moon then.” _After not hearing any complaint, she proceeded to make the call._

_Fortunately for Gladion, Moon wasn’t the type of people that start joking over serious business. Once they explained her their situation, Moon decided to call for help._

“But you need to stay where you are, don’t move, ok?” _Moon warned them before ending the call._

“We need to wait...”

_Every minute that passed only served to increase Gladion’s anxiety and boredom, being trapped in a complete dark cave for sure wasn’t his idea of a trip. After some minutes, even Crobat settled beside him, moving only when some wild pokémon got very close to them. Knowing that they were surrounded by wild pokemon was another reason for his frustration, with the lack of visibility he couldn’t even had the opportunity to fight or catch them._

“How much we need to wait?”

“I don’t know, maybe it depend on how far we are from an entrance.”

“Well, I don’t want to keep waiting!” _Taking Lana’s cellphone, he used the light from the screen to search a pokeball on his backpack and released his midday Lycanroc._ “You can see in the dark, right?”

“Lycan!”

“Good, try to find any source of light.”

_The sound of footsteps indicated that Lycanroc had walked away. But after a few minutes of not hearing him coming back, made Gladion desperation to rise again._

“Seriously, how bad luck do I need to have for this to happen? This is like that stupid movie!”

“Ah, the one you talked about at the airport?”

“Yeah. The godamn hotel and his ‘one room only’ and now getting stuck in a weird place… Those are classic clichés from stupid movies ... And then, that gym leader got the wrong idea that I’m your boyfriend!”

“Well, you are a boy and you are my friend.”

“You know I didn’t mean it in that way, right?”

“I know... Mmm, I just remembered, didn’t Silvally had that silvery glow around him?”

“Yes, but ... Let’s say he doesn’t like dark places, it give him bad memories. He could get stressed and I prefer he get some rest after the battle and running from one place to another.”

“Oh! I’m sorry…”

“Its fine, he had fun anyway… But let that a side, what about you? I wasn’t expecting to see your shy side again.”

“Oh shut up.” _She said with another punch on his arm. Although they couldn’t see anything at the time, Gladion could tell that she was blushing after remembering that detail._

“You know, that fight make me remember when we trained, it was so long since we had a double battle.”

“If you hadn’t distanced in the last year, you could still be used to it.”

“I was busy with the foundation.”

“You know that excuse doesn’t work, right? Lillie tells us everything that happens there.”

_Gladion made a groan of irritation, he hadn’t thought of that detail before speaking. He didn’t want to admit it, but Lana had a point. He had indeed been busy helping with his family business, but at the same time, he had also been avoiding expending too much time with his friends in the last year._

“I even thought that maybe I did something wrong.”

_Since he was unable to see anything, it was impossible for him to know if Lana was being serious or if she was just joking again, still her words felt like a punch in the stomach. _ _“No, it's not your fault ... It's just ...” _ _Somehow, now he needed to thanks the lack of visibility, because he was sure that if she could see him, he would be unable to keep talking. _ _“I didn’t wanted to keep hearing the others comments about us.”_

“I thought you didn’t care, you didn’t look to care about it before.”

_He felt a pressure on his shoulder, Lana probably leaned on him, maybe as a wait to keep him talking._ “At first it felt like just a game, but lately their comments felt more real and insistent. And honestly, I don’t want those comments to affect anything between us.”

_For a moment neither of them said anything, the only sound they can heard was from Crobat scaring some wild pokémon they could not see. _

“You don’t need to worry about that.” _Lana said after a while._ "But avoiding us can change it. Moon asked if we had a fight or something and I didn’t know what to answer... And the other day, I wasn’t expecting you to go to Mallow’s restaurant when I called everyone.”

“I didn’t wanted to go...” _He admitted in an apologetic way_. “... Lillie obliged me.”

“Thought so.” _This time Gladion was sure that she was being serious, but that didn’t make him feel better_. “At least now I know that you wasn’t angry.”

“No, never think that again. On the contrary...” _He sighed trying to stay calm, now that they touched the topic, it was better to take advantage of the easiness that was talking when the other person couldn’t see him back._ “Spending time with you has been fun, more than you think. That’s why I didn’t wanted anything to change, especially if the comments of the others were the motive.”

“Gladion...” _Instinctively he turned to see her but that turned to be pointless if he couldn’t see anything_. “Don’t give importance to their comments, as long as you’re sure of what you feel, nothing is going to change.”

“Is that how can you deal with them? You are sure of what you feel?”

“I have never doubted it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, actually ... I was talking with Moon the other day...”

“Lycan!”

_The sound of Lycanroc coming back caught their attention. The pokémon approached them and started pulling Gladion’s sleeve._

_“Did you find something?”_

“Lycanroc!”

_Gladion helped Lana to stand up_. “Let's follow him.”

_They began to follow the dog in the darkness, attempting to not get loose of his fur. The Pokémon led them to a crack in one of the cave’s wall where they could see that it was getting dark outside too._

“If we can make this gap bigger...”

“Ah, I don’t think it's a good idea...” _Lana quickly said before he did anything crazy._

“I’m not going to wait anymore! Crobat come closer!” _The bat pokemon started flying around them_. “With a strong shot we can get out.” _Gladion pulled something out of his backpack, Lana instantly recognized it as a Z crystal, which was quickly placed in the ring on Gladion’s hand._

_Before Lana could try to stop him, a flash from outside caught her attention. The light seemed to come from a flashlight, indicating that there were people on the other side._ “Gladion wait!”

“CONTINENTAL CRUSH!”

_But her advice came late, the cave was completely illuminated with the light coming from the energy that enveloped Lycanroc and Gladion. Instantly, Crobat created a protective barrier around them at the same time Lycanroc launched his attack against the wall._

_The collision created a landslide around them. Pieces of rock fell everywhere, and a cloud of dust covered their visibility. After a few seconds, their vision got clear, revealing that a good part of the wall had been destroyed._

“FINALLY!” _Gladion exclaimed happily, but before he could say anything more, a hand grabbed his shoulder._

“What was that?” _A group of unknown people had come closer, after a quick glance at the clothes they wore, Gladion started to feel panic. They were officers and did not seem happy with the collapse of the cave, obviously caused by the canine pokémon that was happily waving his tail._

“You have to accompany us to the station to explain what happened.” _Said another official._

“What?”

“Hurry up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About who won the batlle, is up to you! But please, think about it as an very epic battle!
> 
> Oh and I'm sorry if Mirror Coat doesn't work like that, I read about it's use in battle and that is how I understand it, so I'm sorry for any error.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is time for the fishing contest!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad for any ortograpy rule I killed here.

_It was past midnight when Lana's cellphone rang. She hurried to answer the call as quickly as possible, throwing the clothes she had just changed. A quick look at the room told her that her partner was still lying in his bed without moving._

"Finally! You know how many times I have tried to communicate with either of you?" _Moon's voice echoed through the room with an obvious tone of anger, Lana had to check once again that Gladion had not awakened._

"Around 30 times at my number for what I can see."

"And what happened? Why you didn’t answered before? After I send you help, I lost contact with both of you."

"We talked for a while but then Gladion lost his temper and destroyed the cave ... Well part of it." _She made a correction after seeing Moon’s expression in the video call._ "To our luck, it happened in front of the help you send us."

"That idiot..."

"We had to go with the officers to the station and ... Let's just say Lusamine will have a lot to ask when she sees her next bill from the bank."

_Moon facepalm was fully visible in the cellphone screen_. "Ok ... We'll have to thank that he comes from a wealthy family or otherwise, who knows how long you both would had to stay under custody." _By the tone of her voice, Lana was sure that Lusamine would not be the only one giving Gladion a speech about what happened._ "And what is he doing? Why he didn’t answered his phone?"

"I think he's dead ..." _Moon give her another irritated glare._ "Or asleep, I don’t know. When we arrived, he just took a quick shower and then without saying anything, dropped on the bed and hasn’t moved since then. "

"Well, I guess the whole thing got him tired and stressed, he didn’t wanted to take the trip after all."

"Maybe… I didn’t wanted to bother him more anyway, we need to get up early."

"Right. The competition will have you both busy. "

"Yeah, and we'll have to arrive early, since we couldn’t see the place with anticipation."

"If you see the good side of all of this, at least you had time to talk with him... Because you talked with him, right?"

"Eerr…"

_Lana’s silence made Moon hit her forehead with the palm of her hand again._ "Seriously... You two were alone for hours and you say nothing?"

"It's not my fault, he got impatient too soon."

"Well yes, but you should take the advantage of the situation, that sort of thing is better to say it when no one can interrupt you."

"I know, but ..." _She thought about what Moon had said, and the words that Gladion had repeated before the trip, came back to her mind instantly_. "Wait ... Now I begin to believe that Gladion could be right about this trip being planned so I can talk with him."

"Uhm, I can’t speak for others but at least on my part, I can say I had nothing to do with any plan about this." _Either because Moon was a reliable friend or because of her convincing voice, Lana just accepted she was telling the truth._ "And I assure you, that I didn’t told anyone about it... But I don’t know if you tell the others."

"Only Mallow."

"That’s what I expected, but I doubt she told the others ..." _Both started thinking about it, but didn’t seem to have any idea that approve Gladion’s theory about the trip._ "Well it's late, you better have some rest. Good luck with your competition. "_After a quick farewell, the video call ended._

_She leaved the phone on the _ _nightstand _ _and looked again at her companion. After coming back to the hotel, Gladion decided to take a shower, and after he was done, just dropped on his bed and didn’t moved again, not even to search a more comfortable position or caring for being too close to the edge of the bed._ _The right thing would had been to wake him up to prevent him to fell on the floor while sleeping, but considering the time and that they had to get up pretty early, Lana chose to not bother him anymore. The boy didn’t need more reasons to get angry again, and if she wanted to talk to him, the ideal was that he was in the best mood possible, because as Mallow had said once, 'A bomb like that' need to be given carefully._

_With a sigh of resignation, Lana took an extra blanket from her bed and dropped it over him. What she needed to tell him, it would need to wait, for now she needed full concentration on the competition._

...

"Gladion get up!"

_It could not be true. He was sure he go to sleep no more than 20 minutes ago and now he was already being awakened by a strong shake ... An Earthquake? A surprise attack? No, it was more like a hurricane ... A hurricane that dragged him on a trip and had the name of Lana._

_He slowly opened one eye to examine his situation. At least the girl was not on his bed watching him like the day before, but she was now shaking him from side to side, perhaps with the intention to drop him out of bed._

"What ... What happened?"

"We need to go."

"But is..." _He took his cellphone from the nightstand._ "Five in the morning… Go to sleep again." _He said before turning to the opposite side._

"No, remember that today is the competition." _She started to shake him again._

_Oh sure, the fishing competition. The main reason of her trip. The truth was that after what happened the day before, he had forgotten why he was in Kanto. _"But... It starts in four hours."

"But I want the best place in the competition area, I need to arrive first." _She insisted again without letting him to fall sleep again._

_20 minutes of discussion later, he had no option but to get up early, but if he think about it, with all the shaking he had already lost any trace of sleep._

_After a while, both were walking around the cordoned area on Route 12, the place in which will take place the competition. Lana took her time examining every place carefully, taking advantage that none of the other competitor had arrived._

_At the beginning, Gladion could not help thinking that it might be somewhat unfair for the other competitors, but she claimed to have asked in advance if they could enter hours before the start of the competition. _

"Finding the right place is part of the strategy in fishing."

_He had already hear her say that phrase before, but he never paid attention to it, fishing was not one of his favorite pastimes after all, quite the contrary, he found it boring. The few times he had accompanied Lana fishing, it was only because Lillie obliged him to go, but he always ended up falling asleep while the others were engaged in the fishing. He had no interest in the sport, and even after years with his weird friendship with the Akala Captain, that idea had not changed at all._

"And I’m sure the other competitors already examined the place yesterday."

_After some time of checking and throwing stuffs in the water, Lana finally settled down her fishing gear._

"Humm, here is going to be fine." _They had stopped almost at half of the space designated for the competition. _

_Gladion looked around the place, he should be thankful that Lana choose the side of the bridge that was near a couple of trees, providing a good amount of shadow to rest and the air flowed perfectly. For her it would be the best place to fish and for him, a good place to take a nap._

"I didn’t tell you before, but I officially appointed you as my caddy." _Said Lana suddenly as she prepared her fishing rod._

"Your what?"

"My caddy."

"Ah... Aren’t that for golf?" _Asked confused since he has only hear the word from the stories that Kahili used to tell them._

"Well ..." _Lana made a thinking pose._ "It doesn’t matter! On theory is almost the same!"

"It isn’t!" _He answered with irritation. Now he started to understand one of the reasons of why Lana wanted company for the trip, the girl was basically forcing him to help, preventing him to take a nap._

"You'll be my assistant, is the same a caddy do in golf: help." _She said with a smile._

"Why you don’t use a Pokémon?"

"I can’t! The use of Pokémon is prohibited. But is valid to have someone helping as long as is registered." _She explained while she continued with her preparations._

"And I suppose you could not ask me before?"

"I knew you would accept."

_Lana answered with a smile, but not a normal one, it was one of her very well-known sadistic smiles she used on fights. A quick glance at her expression made him nod without hesitation ... After all, he knew why the other captains were afraid of her._

...

_Waiting for the start of the competition was as interesting as Gladion expected: Boring._

_Although Lana tried to explain each of her preparations he hold no interest in understanding, yet he found himself doing everything the captain told him without thinking, it was almost like working in automatic despite having no idea of what he was doing._

_As time passed, other competitors started to arrive on get ready in the place of their choice. _

_When Gladion was forced to accompany Lana, he believed it was because most of the competitors would be older men with nothing better to do than spend hours waiting to catch something; however, he was proved wrong as the participants started to arrive: men and women from different ages were starting to surround them. But his greatest attention was on the tools those “rivals” were carrying, he was sure their fishing gear were expensive and of the best quality possible._

"Aren’t that a disadvantage for you?" _He asked after seeing Lana’s simple tools._

"Fishing is a battle of strategy, what matters is your ability." _She said without giving importance to the matter_. "Furthermore, these tools have never failed me!"

"Oh ..." _Her words left him without knowing what to say, he had never see fishing as a strategy battle before, and he even couldn’t understand what kind of strategy could be used in throwing a hook with bait and waiting for something to eat it._

"Also normal and simple is the best!" _Said Lana while doing the pose of the normal Z move. Gladion smiled at the comment, it was easy to see she was stealing the phrase and pose of certain captain from Mele Mele._

...

"You're falling asleep." _Said Lana suddenly without losing focus on what she was doing._

"Really?" _He replied with a yawn._

_The competition had already begun more than an hour ago, but the shade of the trees behind him were too tempting for not to take a nap._

"Don’t do it again."

"I'll try ... So? Something interesting?" _He asked in a try to avoid falling back to sleep_... _A competition of pokémon, in which he can’t even fight the pokémon was not of his interest._

"Just a couple of interesting catch around here. But I hear noises coming from the main area, some judges ran to there. "

_The rules of the contest were simple. Competitors should register their best catch, which would be evaluated not only by size but also rarity. Such capture should be done with a special pokeball from the contest and should be done without the help of a pokemon. Other people can offer a hand in the catch process, but the catch itself must be done by the participant. Judges were allocated throughout the area to observe each capture to being the participants follow the rules._

"I think ... I could go and see what’s going on."

"That would be great!"

_With the approval received, Gladion went for a walk trying to be productive and avoid falling asleep again. _

_He arrived to the main area, in which judges evaluate the size and weight from the catched pokemon, the area was also surrounded by spectators waiting to see the pokemon. One of the things he couldn’t understand about fishing was in understanding the spectators, the idea of sitting waiting for someone to fish something sounded pretty boring in his mind. He decided to stop thinking about it and see what was already registered instead._

_Gladion took a look at the list of registered pokémon on the score board. Luvdisc, Gorebyss, Feebas and Seakings of different sizes were shown. He had no idea that a Feebas could be that big, for sure he would need to be more careful next time he went into the sea if those monsters lived in the bottom of the sea._

"Got a big one!"

_Gladion turned around to see from where the noise came from. Various people came running behind one of the competitors that rapidly approached the judges table. One of the judges freed the pokémon after receiving approval from the staffs members from the event._

_And in all his life he had never seen before a Milotic that big!_

_All the spectators began to take pictures of the Milotic that was in front of the judges. A normal Milotic was no more than 6.5mts according to his understanding, but he was sure that the pokémon in front of him measure at least about 8 or 9 meters. Was it really natural? Perhaps it had been mutated or something ... Or maybe just ate too much and grew quickly. Whatever happened to the pokémon, he was now fearing for Lana._

...

"What happened?" _Asked Lana when Gladion ran in her direction._

"That pokémon was so big!"

"What pokémon?"

_Ok, he needed to explain with details. _"The Milotic of that guy was soo big! Like around... 8 or 9 meters? How did that Pokémon grow that big? "

"Ah yes ... It sounds big." _She answered without giving too much importance._ "Don’t worry, I have captured bigger pokémon... Remember the Wailord!"

"I'm still doubting you caught it..." _He answered quickly._

"You would have seen it if you had not fallen asleep that day."

_That was a detail he couldn’t deny, that day he had fall asleep instantly as they arrived in Lana’s favorite fishing area and he did not wake until Sun and Hau jumped over him several hours later. But even if he doubted it was true, it was better to don’t start a discussion over it, it was not good to deconcentrate Lana... On whatever she was doing to get a good catch._

_Every minute that he waited for something to happen, it was making him more and more anxious... How is that Lana could not care for not finding anything? The time was running out quickly and Gladion’s patience was going with it._

"You're getting impatient."

"I think I'm get impatient for the both of us... Because you’re obviously not caring!"

"C’mon I do care, but you just need t-" _Lana stopped talking after receiving a strong tug from her fishingrod, something began to pull the hook very hard._

"Finally!" _Exclaimed Gladion as he moved closer to Lana._

"There... There's something... Weird..." _Said Lana as she tried to get a better look at the water._

"Weird? Is not a pokémon? "

"Is not that... It's just... Something... Is shining..." _She replied quietly by the effort of pulling the reel._

"Shining?" _Gladion got closer, there was something glowing under the water._ "Oh, you’re right! Ah... Right now Rotomdex would be a good help... "

"I don’t think... It would accept to stay away from Moon just for this."

"Well yes, but AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH" _His words were changed after the Pokémon splashed water over him._

"Is that…"

_Both young’s watched a huge red tail out splashing before returning under the water. _

"A Gyara... DOS!" _The force of the pokémon pulled Lana closer to the edge of the bridge she was standing, but before falling into the water, she managed to stabilize the fishingrod and pull the Gyarados back._

"What? But ... How?" _Gladion shifted his gaze from the water to Lana quickly ... How was the small fishing rod able to keep the Gyarados without breaking? And most importantly ... How was Lana able to keep her balance without being pulled by the pokémon who was obviously several meters bigger?_

"I think is going to…"

_The Gyarados jumped completely out of the water, catching the attention of everyone around. It was big and red. As it fall back into the water, the Gyarados was finally able to pull Lana completely._

_But that was why she needed a ‘fishing Caddie' right?_

_Gladion moved as quickly as he could to prevent Lana to fell into the water. He positioned behind her and helped to hold the fishing rod while trying to not get dragged by the Gyarados_

"Hold on!" _Said Lana with a quick smile._

"I'm trying!" _He replied while doing his best to keep both of them over the small bridge_. _Not an easy task considering that the pokémon was 100 times stronger._ "But this is not going to work!"

"Calm down ... We only need to use our strategy!"

"What strategy?"

"You'd know if you had not fallen asleep."

"Well, I'm sorry! Just tell me what to do!"

"First... You need to be in right position."

"Position?" _Before he could try to understand her words, Lana pushed him with a slight blow into his stomach, making him to change his current position._

_If he had to compare it to something, he could compare it with a common position from martial arts, and that made sense, fighting positions were used to have a stability that would let the user attack freely and smoothly. And from this new position it was easier for him to apply his force in his legs, helping him to counter the force of the Gyarados and preventing them to fall into the water._

_After that, Lana forced him to drop the fishing rod and hold her by the waist, leaving the fishing rod completely at her disposition._

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'll handle this." _She replied with a comforting smile._

"But you can’t! That thing is much bigger and stronger than us. "

"Don’t worry, with you as my 'anchor' is going to be easier!"

"Huh? Now I'm an anchor? "

"Exactly!"

_Seconds later he understood why Lana was comparing him to an anchor. With his current position, she could freely maneuver the fishing rod to counter Gyarados’s moves, while he only cared of keeping both of them over the small bridge. He was really acting like an anchor, and if he failed, both would fall into the water and the pokémon would escape._

_The Gyarados was pulling hard and splashing everywhere, drawing the attention of both participants and spectators. Gladion turned to both sides, he was sure a contest staff member was watching them, taking care that no pokémon was used for the capture._

"Gladion!"

_The huge red dragon took advantage of his distraction and pulled them closer to the edge of the bridge with the clear intention of throwing them. He needed to concentrate on applying all his strength to prevent that from happening._

"Don’t tell me that's all the strength you have!"

_Lana's voice brought him back to reality_ "Huh?" _Confused, he focused his gaze on the girl in front of him, Lana’s expression had changed to the one she used in battles, the one that send anyone running scared. _

"Does all that training I forced you to have was for nothing?"

"No... Uh... I..."

"Then show him who's boss!"

_Gladion returned his concentration to his task while Lana managed to control the Gyarados by adjusting the position of the fishing rod in where it was necessary. Gladion send a quick glance at Lana who started giving him orders of where to move like if he was one of her pokémon in a battle. _

_Over the years he got used to Lana’s change of personality in battles, changing from a timid and calm girl into a violent fighter that give no chance to her adversaries. Her pokémon happily followed her orders and gave good results. And now he felt she was doing the same with him._

_If he thought about it, their current situation resembled a hand in hand fight with the pokémon. It was definitely like a pokémon battle. She could see what he didn’t, and his mission was only to win the battle under her command._

_If this was a simple contest of strength, he was determined to not lose._

_Concentrating all his strength to keep both of them safe, Gladion took back his position in the middle of the bridge, a fast look to Lana told him he was in the perfect place. _

_Having secured the position, Lana moved the fishing rod to force the Gyarados to take its head out of the water, she needed to make it jump fully out of the water to throw the pokeball. If she failed to make it jump soon, the two of them would end tired to continue the fight. Adjusting to the movements of Lana, Gladion moved their bodies to help her pull the Pokémon out._

_Combining a last effort, Lana pulled the fishing rod forcing the Gyarados to jump in a try to avoid colliding with the bridge in front of it._

_Quickly, Lana holded the fishing rod with one hand and throwed one of the pokéball she carried in her backpack, hitting the body of the Gyarados and absorbing it completely. The sudden disappearance of the pokémon made Gladion lost his balance, falling into the bridge along with Lana, while the pokéball fell into the water shaking from side to side._

_Both watched the pokéball without moving, ignoring the screams and shouts of people who watched the competition. After a few seconds the pokéball stopped shaking._

"Gotcha!"

"You did it!"

"Of course." _She answered returning to her normal behavior, but keeping her smile._

"But that was great! It was... It was... It was like... IT WAS JUST GREAT!"

"Gladion..."

"But why you didn’t tell me before that fishing was exciting?"

"I have years telling you that."

"And it was like a battle!"

"Gladion..."

"And... AND YOU ARE AWESOME!"_ He exclaimed still with the adrenaline high. Feeling like if he has measured his strength directly with the pokémon._

"GLADION!"

"Yes?"

"Can you release me? I need to pick up the pokeball before the current take it away." _She said shyly._

"Ah!" _He released her and alarmed moved away to the opposite edge of the bridge, he didn’t realized he was still holding her._

_The people that were watching them started to disperse around, checking other competitors. Gladion kept looking at Lana while she collected the pokeball. It had actually been more exciting than he thought, almost like if he had fought against the pokémon and even if his only job was to keep them over the bridge, he just felt like if he had beaten the Gyarados directly in a fight. _

_But if he felt like that for just being an 'anchor', what should he think about Lana? She was the one who struggle with the Gyarados, who had prevented it to escape and foremost, who had forced the pokémon out of the water, also her strategy in choosing the exact place for fishing..._

"You are really amazing..."

"Did you say something?" _Asked Lana who returned with the pokeball in hand_.

"Ah ... No!" _He replied embarrassed after realizing he had spoken aloud._

"Let's go with the judges."

_Now he felt like a complete idiot for not believing that she had caught a Wailord. If Lana was capable of ‘fighting’ with a big and strong Gyarados, then she could do anything._

_…_

_The Gyarados had ends up being the same size as the Milotic that Gladion had seen hours earlier. He wondered how those pokémon were larger than the data recorded in the Rotomdex, maybe he need to have a big talk with Rotom after returning to Alola, the information needed to be updated._

_At the end of the competition, Lana’s Gyarados and Milotic had been among the best catches of the day, staying above an extralong Huntail, but Lana had an advantage. The Gyarados was shiny, allowing Lana’s extra points in rarity that gave her the win._

_The judges had handed over to Lana the recognition award along with an envelope for a ‘surprise prize’ as well as the opportunity to keep the captured pokémon. _

_Hours later, although all competitors, judges and spectators had left, both Gladion and Lana stayed on the place, watching the red Gyarados swimming near them while Silvally was trying to chase him._

"Really, I can swear that every day it pass, he keeps acting more like a dog." _Said Gladion without taking his eyes of his pokémon._

"Now it will be twice the good boy."

"Are you going to give him a name?" _He asked while pointing at the Gyarados._

"Well, I know the perfect name for him." _She said with a smile._ "I’m going to call him Gla-"

"NO!"

"And I was kidding!" _She said while laughing at his reaction, without realizing that her actions only managed to make him feel more embarrassed than anything._

"Just don’t!" _He tried to ignore her laughing but it was hard, she do really enjoy to make him suffer, it was better to change the subject to avoid getting more flustered._ "How did you know where the Gyarados was going to appear?"

"Huh?" _Lana looked at him confused, the boy really didn’t understand anything about fishing._ "I didn’t know it was going to be a Gyarados, but I had the idea it could be something big." Gladion _looked at her even more confused_. "I was throwing bait in the water to see which pokémon lived near the surface. If you know the diet of water pokémon, you can have an idea of which species live in the bottom based on the small ones from the surface, you can also have an idea of how big they can be. If the ‘smaller’ ones from the surface are actually bigger than normal, then the ones from the bottom are bigger too, since the smaller are their daily food. "

_Gladion couldn’t help but feel even more amazed, Lana had not only showed to have a force greater than she looked, but she also thought every detail in advance and knew her topics of interest to perfection._

"But it was a surprise that it was shiny." _She added in the end._

"You ..." _Gladion tried to finish his sentence, but didn’t know how. Several words appeared in his mind that could serve to describe his friend and he simple was unable to choose one. Should he praise her strength or strategy? Or maybe he should..._

"I also need to thank you." _Lana's words interrupted his internal debate, and somehow he was grateful for being prevented to feel ashamed again after what he started to think._ "You were a good anchor!"

"That doesn’t sound great compared with you ..." _Instantly Gladion covered his mouth with both hands, but he had been late, Lana was laughing at him again._

"The anchor is important too! Without your help, Gyarados would had escaped along with my fishing gear." _She explained with a small pat on his shoulder as a cheer up._

"At least your win made the whole trip totally worth it." _Said Gladion, in a try to stop Lana to keep laughing at him._

"It was a double victory!"

"Double?"

"Yes! I don’t only won the competition, but I finally made you fish with me." _She explained with a smile._

"Ah ..."

_And again she had left him speechless. Seriously this girl was going to kill him one day! Of shame obviously. He was already starting to felt more difficult to avoid blushing whenever she smiled, and even he felt unable to say no to any idea she had._

"But there is still something I need to do." _Said Lana thoughtfully._

"What?"

"Celebrate!"

_Without giving him time to react, she jumped over him from behind, causing both of them to fall into the water, drawing the attention of Silvally and Gyarados who approached them._

"And this was necessary?" _Asked Gladion who had to hold onto Silvally’s back to avoid sinking, since Lana was holding him from behind._

"Sure, it's a tradition." _She replied, still keeping a big smiling._

"Well, I do not remember hearing about it."

"That's because you always fell sleep the few times you come with us."

_And again he couldn’t deny it, although now it had more sense that Lillie sometimes came back home completely drenched. _

_Since Lana didn’t showed intention of release her hold on him, Gladion had to use the help of Silvally to get closer to the edge of the small bridge. _"Hey, and what was that envelope the judge give you?"

"I don’t know, they said it was a surprise prize."

_Lana came out of the water and carefully took the envelope to keep it dry, inside was a card with something written on it. Her expression changed to a curious one while she showed him the card._

"This has to be a joke…"

_Was all Gladion managed to say after reading the card._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I choose a red Gyarados based on Lana's dialogue from the games.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a prize become a Date

.: Chapter 5 :.

"It looks... Expensive ..."

_Both youngs looked at each other trying to assess the situation, thinking they hasn’t chosen the right clothes._

"This looks like something my mother would choose for dinner." Commented Gladion after giving a quick glance at the build. "If she were here, she would sent me back to my room to change into something less... Casual."

_When both of them read the surprise prize card announcing a double dinner at the restaurant 'The Horsey’s Palace', they never imagined the place would be possibly one of the most luxurious restaurants in the city._

"You forgot to tell me I needed a suit or something like that."

"It was a surprise prize, how would I know?" Said Lana while pushing him inside. "Had I known, I would have brought something more suitable too."

"Ah... True."

_The inside of the building was really luxurious, very elegant like an actual palace; and the customers seemed to have more money than Kiawe could ever dream. Gladion instantly felt that if they didn’t had the prize card, the waiter will kick them out of the place for not using proper clothes._

_Once they were on their designated table, his discomfort increased to the realization that this was the first time they would spend dinner together, without the company of their friends and in a place surrounded by millionaire couples who kept judge them by their clothes. They had eaten together before yes, just the day before was a good example, but they had never been alone in a place that screams 'romantic dinner' everywhere._

_Gladion's mind began to work quickly to find the best way to act, he did not want to end up saying something stupid that could ruin the night. After a few seconds, the silence between the two was interrupted when his cell phone began to sound slightly._

_He took the phone thinking it would be Sun, Hau or Kiawe with some of their classic daily memes, but to his surprise, the message came from Moon and she did not seem very happy._

'Could you explain why are photos of Silvally in internet under the name of Alolan Absol?'

_Gladion hit his forehead with his hand; people certainly could not stop themselves of uploading their photos to social networks. Deciding that it would not be a good idea to ignore Moon, he answer the message._

'Uh ... Maybe one of the staff members from the foundation uploaded it as a joke. Why do you ask?'

'Professor Burnet asked me since, for the whole day, Professor Kukui has been receiving calls from different researchers from Kanto that want to know more about the new specie.'

'Oh...'

'The professors called the foundation for information, but they didn’t know that you were traveling with Lana, and Lillie and your mother are obviously unaware of the issue.'

'Uh...' He really didn’t know if tell her what happened in the gym, not because it was wrong, but because he didn’t know if a little lie could cause big problems.

'What did you two do this time?'

'Eh... Nothing?'

'Gladion ... These photos were obviously taken in a Pokémon gym, and with you in Kanto is easy to know that the photos aren’t from Alola.'

_Classic Moon, she was never easy to fool. He was about to reply the message when he noticed that Lana lowered her phone and was now looking at him._

"Is something wrong?" _She asked after seeing that he was a bit nervous_.

"Ah weeeeeeell..."

"Good night."

_Gladion sighed at being interrupted by the waiter who had just come, he would talk with Lana later._

_Luckily for him, the waiter retired after leaving the menu and a couple of cutlery, but before he had the time to discuss with Lana about what Moon send him, the girl’s expression caught his attention, Lana was looking at the menu like if it was her greatest enemy._

"What’s wrong?" _He asked confused, he had never seen her expressing such hate for an inanimate object before._

_Lana suddenly dropped the menu in the table, startling her companion and the people around them. _"Is seafood."

_The simple answer further confused the young boy._ "Uh ... Yes ... I thought you knew, the restaurant was one of the sponsors from the fishing contest."

"They could have variety." _She said as she crossed her arms and looked back at the menu like if it had insulted her._

"I don’t remember you having problems when we were to eat before, you never opposed to the places the others chose to go." _He said curiously, since he had accompanied his friends to eat at several places before and she had never had problems with the menu._

"Yeah, but we never went to places that don’t have other food options. If it comes from the sea, I’m not going to eat it."

_Gladion tried not to laugh at her explanation but failed, there was something that made it sound funnier than of what is it. The captain really had a strong respect for the sea._

_Lana could not help blushing, for the first time Gladion had a reason to laugh at her. _"Now you think I’m weird."

"What? Oh ... No, no, no, no, no." _He began to deny instantly, smiling for the misunderstanding._ "It's just, is something I had never though before." _Lana gave him a menacing look_. "Come on! I had no idea and it made me curious... Do all water type trainers are like that? "

"I don’t know." _She thought for a few seconds._ "I should have asked Misty, maybe it's only me."

"Well, that would make you even more unique... I mean... I wanted to-" _At the moment he regretted what he had just said, since Lana started laughing at him again_. "Aaah, we always end up like this, right? You make me said weird things. "

"I did nothing, you fell alone into it."

_Luckily for him, the waiter returned before he continue talking._ "Can I take your order?"

"Uh... Weeeeellllllll..." _He looked back at Lana who started sending her deadly glares to the menu, making the waiter back off scared._ "Ah sorry, but could be possible you have something that doesn’t include seafood?"

_This time it was the waiter who watched Gladion severely. _"Of course not! This is the best seafood restaurant from Kanto!" _Said with an offended tone._

"Yeah, but look." _Gladion replied quietly while snatching the menu from Lana's hands before she nailed the knife she had taken from the table._ "You don’t want to make her angrier right?" _He explained with a low voice, obviously trying not to be heard by the girl in front of him._ "You also leaved her a knife, if I were you, I would not mess with her."

_The look of the waiter quickly went from one young to the other, assessing the situation. The girl looked truly dangerous with the butter knife in her hand. "It's not easy!" Conclude by saying after a few seconds. "We would need to send someone to look for ingredients, which obviously would take more time and money. Our sponsor does not include extra expenses in the prize. "_

_Gladion give a quick look of complicity to Lana before turning toward the waiter. _"If money is the whole problem, I'll take care of the extra expenses."

_After a moment of negotiation, the waiter walked away leaving them alone again._ "Seriously you are terrible." _He said smiling towards Lana who was still playing with the knife. _

"If scare him is enough to get what I want ..." _She said with a sadistic smile._

"I swear, I don’t understand why I followed your game... And give me that knife you're scaring me." _Quickly he snatched the knife from her hands._

"But it have no sharp, it can’t cut."

"I know, even so, I have no doubt it become dangerous in your hands."

"Then I'll take the fork…"

"Don’t!"

_After Lana finished laughing at his reaction to hide all the cutlery until they need it, the situation became very quiet, both of them were too busy with their cellphones. _

_Trying to ignore the questions from Moon and the memes from Sun, Hau and Kiawe; Gladion was devoted to answering messages from Lillie._

_He was already thinking that everything would be so quiet until the waiter returned with their dinner, when Lana hit the table with her hand, attracting the attention of several customers in the local and even made some waiters to quickly move away._

"What happened?" He asked confused, whatever Lana had seen in her cellphone, it made her even angrier.

_The girl was a bit shy by her own reaction. _"Uh ... nothing ... Is just, Mallow and Moon ..."

"Did you receive that message too?"

"What message?" _She asked alarmed, but whatever she was thinking, was not what Gladion thought, because after showing the messages that Moon had sent him about Silvally, Lana changed to a more calm expression. _"Oh no! Not that ... Uh ... She learned about the Absol. "

"Yeah, it looks that Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet received messages from people asking how to get one ... But forget that, what happened with you?"

"Nothing ... girl stuff I guess."

_Lana stared at the table without saying anything more, yet Gladion understand what had happened. _"You told them that we'd come to dinner and now they keep comparing it with some sort of romantic date, right?" _He watched her carefully, despite not having an answer, her behaviors of distracting by her surroundings was enough for realizing that he was right_. "I guess if I had told Sun or any of them, they would bother me too."

"Maybe I shouldn’t have told them anything."

"Yesterday you told me that their comments doesn’t bother you."

"Is not the same… I guess you could say is somewhat related, but ... It's more difficult to explain." _She finished talking with her face covered by her hands, whatever they were telling her, it was obviously making her feel uncomfortable._

_In a way Gladion could not help but feel some sympathy with her, he may not know what exactly happened, but if it was related to the whole issue between them and she felt uncomfortable about it, then he understood perfectly. They could be their best friends, but sometimes they went too far with their comments... And this couldn’t stay like that! This was Lana’s prize for winning, she was supposed to enjoy it, and Gladion is not going to let a couple of messages from their friends will ruin her night._

"Give me your phone." _He said suddenly drawing her attention._

"Why?" _Lana’s took her cellphone to protect it from him._

"Don’t worry, I’m not going to read it. Block it if you want." _Thanks to Lillie, he learned very well to don’t involve between girls conversations._

_Lana hesitated for a moment, but at the end she give him the cellphone._ "But…"

"Look, if they ask why you didn’t answer, just tell them it was my fault." _He took her phone and along with his own one, he put them on his backpack._ "Let's forget about them for a while, this is only between you and me, okay? This is your night, I’m not going to let anyone to ruin it. "

_She looked confused at him for a few seconds before understanding what he was asking for. Without the distraction of their friends, this was only the two of them. They had talked a lot during the trip, but there was something this time that feel different, maybe because of the atmosphere of one of the most expensive restaurants in Kanto, maybe because everyone around them were just couples sharing a romantic dinner, or maybe it was because he was acting just like a gentleman in his first date, whatever the reason, this dinner feel more personal and probably better than any other one they had shared before._

_With that in mind, Lana smiled with a slight flush, but at the end he smiled back at her. None dared to speak it, but both of them were thinking that this really felled like a romantic date._

...

"I'm surprised that everything went better than I thought." _Said Gladion as they walked back to the hotel a few hours later. Although the waiter had sounded that it would take too long to prepare a different dish, it was actually fast._

"Did you expect something to went wrong?"

"After what happened with the hotel and the cave, yeah."

"What happened to the cave was actually your fau-" _Lana stopped when they passed a cinema._ "Take me, take me, take me, take me, take me, take me, take me, take me, take me!" _She started to say while shaking his arm._

"Wha ... Wai ... Sto ..." _He tries to scape of her grip, forgetting for a moment that she was stronger of what it seemed_. "Wait!" _He asked as he finally get his arm free_. "Take you what?"

_Lana pointed to the cinema, a poster showed a Pikachu wearing a cap and a magnifying glass._ "To watch the movie!"

_Gladion turned around to see the poster. _"Ah! Uh ... But weren’t you going to watch it along with the others?" _He replied after recognizing the movie._

"Yes, but is going to be in Alola in two weeks. Also, you refused to come with us, this is a good opportunity for you to watch it."

"What? But... Why do you want to watch a movie that you are going to watch again in two weeks?"

"Gladion ..." _She began to say softly, giving him a small hug to keep him close, preventing anyone else to hear her despite being alone and causing some discomfort in the boy._ "Just think of the possibilities." _She concluded with an expression that almost sends Gladion running back to Alola._

"Possibilities?" _He repeated with fear, he didn’t know if he was frightened by Lana’s expression or for her to be too close._

"If we see the movie now, we can tell Sun and Hau what happens before they could see it."

"By Arceus, you're terrible." _He pushed her away quietly, but still smiled at her comment._

"And I’m forcing you to watch the movie with me."

"Correction You're pure evil!" _He said before being hit in the arm_. "Ouch! ... But I do not understand, you are basically inviting me, yet you want me to pay?"

"Yeah."

"First dinner and now a movie now, Is this a date or what?"

"Humm! A date Sounds good!"

_Less than 2 seconds were needed for Gladion to understand what they had said, so he blushed again, making Lana to mock him again._

"Don’t say that!"_ He exclaimed with his face with the color of a Charmeleon._

"Hai, hai, I’m just kidding." _She replied with a laugh_. "Now, ignore that, and let’s go!" _Quickly, she took his hand and dragged him to the cinema._

_Inside the cinema, Gladion leaned back in his seat to think about what had happened. Having a ‘romantic’ dinner with Lana was definitely not among his plans for the trip. They were having a nice day between the two, and that made him think that something could go wrong. It was a bit late already, he was supposed to bring her back to the hotel early since he didn’t know how safe the city was at night, but he couldn’t say no to her after realizing her excitement to watch a movie before her friends._

_But on the good side, everything that has happened in the trip brought them together again. He started to take some distance from her to avoid rumors from their friends, so maybe he had to show gratitude that he can spend time with her again, he really missed having someone around with similar hobbies and ideas, and since they were alone, nobody could make jokes about them._

"You’re very quiet." Said Lana interrupting his thoughts.

"I’m just thinking…"

"I can see that."

"Oh, let me finish." _He said smiling after seeing that she was playing with him_. "I’m thinking about how weird this trip has been. It seems that because of the trip I can paid for all the times I avoided you. "

"Ah! I thought it was about how our trip is similar to the movie you watched with Lusamine. "

_Gladion realized that Lana was right. For a moment he had forgotten the strange similarity that his trip had with that silly movie he had seen with his mother._

"Do you think the movie was prophetic?" _Asked Lana suddenly, causing Gladion to blush at the thought, he remembered very well the happy ending from the movie._ "Hey was just a joke_!" Lana had no choice but to retract what she had said to prevent his partner to have a panic attack in front of people waiting for the start of the function._

"By Arceus, sometimes I swear you're serious ..." _He said while trying to calm down._

_For a few seconds Lana thought about the possibility of telling him about what she was talking with Moon and Mallow, but then discharged the idea. _"You are very easy to mess; but if it makes you feel better I’ll try to not joke about it too much."

"In a way, I think I'm getting used to it."

"Let’s forget that, for now let’s keep our focus in the movie, let’s write some notes."

"Notes?"

"Yeah, let’s write everything we can use to spoil the movie to the others."

_Yes, definitely Lana was pure evil and he liked that._

_..._

_It was past midnight when they were walking back to the hotel through the empty streets of the city, but instead of worrying about how late it was, the two were more concerned of checking the information they wrote about the movie._

"I see we have the details of the best parts."_ Said Lana as she quickly checked the notebook they had used._

"Never doubt my capacity to annoy others."

"I know, but ... You looked a little distracted, like you were looking at me most of the time."_ Although the comment was not to bother him, Gladion blushed again. _"And there you go again ... I swear I did not say it to make fun of you." _She told him curiously._

_Gladion started to deny it quickly. _"Eh no ... Not that ... uh ... I ... I just ..." _He tried to explain his behaviours, but didn’t know how to do it without sounding weird, after all Lana was telling the truth._ "I ... just ... Mmmm How to explain it without you end thinking wrong of me?"

_Lana smiled at his reaction. She liked to bother him, it made him looks very cute._ "Don’t worry, I promise not to think bad, ok?" _She patted him in the back, encouraging him to explain himself._

"You looked pretty excited about the Gyarados and the other pokémon acting in the movie, okay?"

_That was an answer that she didn’t expected, so Lana could not help but blush like him._ "Oh."

"It has been so long since I went into a cinema and ... I don’t know, it has been long since we watched something together too and I can’t remember if you behaved like that with a movie before and I think it was fascinating to see you like that and… And I think I better stop talking right now."

"Uhm, yeah maybe is the best." _She said a bit sad, it was interesting to hear him something like that but, she also didn’t wanted to force him to say something that he could regret later._

"But..." To her surprise, Gladion continued talking. "I must say, this has been a fun day."

_With the curiosity recovered, Lana looked at him._ "I thought you didn’t want to keep living a ‘romantic movie’."

"Well, at the beginning I thought it was silly, but as I said, it has been so long since we spend time together and talking with you without worrying about what the others are going to say, has been fun, more fun of what I remember." He noticed that Lana smiled at the comment, so he continued. "And, nothing wrong ended up happening, I thought something bad was..."

"Wait... Let me put the notebook in my backpack, I don’t want to lost it."

_After storing the notebook, Lana was readying her backpack, when suddenly something passed at her side pushing her against Gladion who reacted quickly to save her of falling._

"What the hell?"

"Hey, my backpack!"

"What?"

_Gladion stared at where someone began to escape, someone was trying to rob them._

"Why did I say nothing wrong had happened?" _The boy exclaimed before running after the thief._

_ Fortunately for both, the thief turned out to be not as fast as expected, so it was easy to corner him in one of the alleys of the city._

"Hey give that back!"

"If you want it back, you need to fight for it." _Replied the smiling thief, something that confused Gladion, he was cornered, it should not be so confident._

"Fighting is not a problem, if you w-"

"Monchan!"

_Behind them, a pokémon appeared ready to attack. It looked that a Hitmonchan was already waiting for them in the alley._

"Hitmonchan, thunder punch!"

_Without giving them time to call a pokémon, the Hitmonchan fist went up ready to attack them directly._

_Instinctively, Gladion pushed Lana away, receiving the electric attack from the Pokémon. The proud smile of Hitmonchan being the last thing he saw before falling unconscious._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please guys, stay healthy


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Silvally breake something and Gladion has a nice night

.: Chapter 6 :.

_The first thing he felt after waking up was a strong pain from his right side accompanied with a numbness in his whole body and his sight was a bit blurry. Forcing his mind to work, he remembered the Hitmonchan approaching quickly and the pain that followed second afterwards._

_Right, someone was robing them! He needed to do something! Quickly he tried to stand up and fight …_

“ARG!”

_… Only to fall back again because of the pain._

_For his surprise, the fall had been too soft… He opened his eyes, only to find the pillow from his hotel’s room. He tried to stand up again and see what has happened, but someone pushed him back down into the bed._

“Don’t move!” _The sound of her voice at least made him feel relieved._

“Are you fine?” _He moved enough to watch Lana taking sit in the bed next to him, probably to stop him from moving more._

“I’m the one supposed to ask you that.”

“What happened? How do we arrive here? What happened with the thief? And your Pokémon? And the notebook?”

_The last question made Lana laugh._ “If you are asking for the notebook, then you aren’t that bad.”

_That was a bad question probably, he wanted to do a facepalm but the pain that felt and the light numbness in his body prevented him to do so._ “No… I didn’t want… Uh…”

“Don’t worry, the notebook is fine.” _Lana pointed to her backpack that was in the other bed._

“Oh… But… What happened?”

“Well…”

…

_Some hours before, a Hitmochan celebrated the defeat of his opponent in one hit._

“Gladion!” _Lana approached the boy only to find him unconscious after receiving the electric attack in the ribs._

“That’s all!” _Said the thief walking away, ready for a quick scape with nobody able to stop them._

“Wait.”

_The girl request was so calm and low, that the thief doubted of hearing it. Something inside him was screaming to ignore her and just start running far away, but his pride was saying ‘What can a little girl, with no pokemon, can do? Following his pride, he turned around to watch the girl, ready to mock at her for being unable to do something; only to find that the so called innocent girl was looking at him in such a way that he started to feel fear._

_Without being able to react, a pokeball passed at his side, freeing an odd pokémon that he had never seen before. _“What the hell is that?” _Asked the thief confused and at the same time scared, the weird creature was looking at him with the same rage than the girl at his back. Now he was the one cornered._

“He, is an Alolan Absol, Silvally, Crush Claw!”

_Silvally attack was quick, yet still stopped in the last moment by Hitmonchan, his strong claws fiery embedded in the other pokémon globes, obstructing him from scape._

“If that is only an Absol, then there is no problem. Dark types are weak to fighting types. Hitmonchan, Close Combat!”

_Taking advantage of the vicinity, Hitmonchan try to punch Silvally, only to be received by a headbutt from the chimera before being released._

_The smile of satisfaction from the girl made the thief even more scared. _“Somebody need to learn that regional variants have different types, also Alolan Absol is unique for one reason.” _While she was speaking, she snatched a disk from Gladion’s backpack and throw it to Silvally, changing his color to a bluish cue. “Air Slash!”_

_Hitmonchan try to attack again, but was stopped by a wave of air that Silvally had launched, taking advantage of the distraction of his rival, Lana ordered a sudden Multi-Attack. Silvally’s attack hit the opponent pokémon with enough force to send him fly against his owner, knocking out both of them._

…

“Wait… You left the thief unconscious and alone?” _Asked Gladion after Lana finished explaining what happened._

“Of course not! I called the police and leaved a note explaining everything.”

_Gladion now had the urged to facepalm himself again, yet he was still unable to do so, Lana was making sure he didn’t moved from his current position. _“And… How do we arrived here?” _He asked trying to ignore the obvious irresponsibility._ “You brought me all the way here?”

“Silvally helped.” _Gladion tried to move again to let her see his confusion, but he was pushed back into the bed._ “Really, don’t move… You want to know how he was able to enter the hotel, right? Let’s just say, it was not easy to distract the hotel staffs for a lot of time until Silvally reached the elevator.”

“What? And the cameras of surveillance?”

“Ummm, don’t doubt of my infiltration capacity.” _She answered with pride._

“I don’t know if you are frightening or amazing.” _After saying this, Lana tried to see his expression with curiosity, but it was late, Gladion had covered his head with a pillow. _“Instead, you have me being useless.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The reason I take this trip, was to protect you… But you had to protect me instead. I’m a big failure if I was unable to accomplish the only mission I had.”

“You think that, but I think is all the contrary. I think you are awesome, you took an electric attack and only fall unconscious, no visible damage or anything.”

“You kidding right? I feel terrible, my whole body hurts a lot…”

“Oh… That’s probably because you slipped a few times from Silvally’s back and I don’t think the falls were painless.”

_Gladion wanted to send her a glare, but desisted, she was not going to leave him move. He observed the small clock in the bedside table, it was almost 4:30 am. He wanted to ask her if she had some sleep, but a medicine bottle appeared in front of his eyes._

“Moon gave me this medicine for pain, she said you need to take one.”

“Moon?”

“Before she returned to Sinnoh, she gave it to me, in fact, she gave me a lot of different medicines ‘just in case you got in trouble'… At the beginning I thought she was exaggerating, but now I’m glad I took her advice. I spoke with her about what to do with you, but she say that I don’t need to worry, since you have a thing to get attacked by pokémon.”

“What? That’s not true! It has only happened… A few times…”

“A few times that were worse than this.”

“Not my fault that some pokémon likes to fight in the different areas of the foundation.”

“Then a single attack is not a big problem for you.”

“Anyway! I still feel terrible…” _He said before covering up again with the pillow._

_Lana started pushing back the medicine bottle to call his attention._ “Just take this and go back to sleep, that is what Moon said.”

_With a growl of annoyance he accepted to take the already very well know medicine. _“But these things doesn’t work fast, it takes time to take effect.”

“I know, but…” _For some seconds she didn’t say anything more._

_The silence caused Gladion to try to see what happened, but then decided not to do it, the numbness caused by the electrical attack would take some time to disappear and he didn’t feel like forcing his body to move. The best would be to ask her what happened, but before he said anything, he felt Lana’s hand rubbing his back in a way that make him feel more relaxed._ “Eh… What are you doing?”

“Try do something for you. It was my fault this happened, we were supposed to come back early.”

“Is not your fault! I accepted to accompany you to the movie!”

_Feeling that this could start an argument over who’s fault was, Lana decided to not pressure the discussion, it was very late after all, and they needed to rest for a bit._ “At least tell me if it helps you to feel better.”

“Actually, yes, it feels good.”

…

_Gladion growl again after waking up for the second time. He wasn’t sure when he had fall asleep, but it was some hours ago since he was now able to feel the sunlight entering from the window and the numbness in his body was gone. He tried to stand up, but again something prevented him from do so, there was a weight in his back. He opened his eyes to see what it was, only to be received with a pair of big blue eyes inside a bubble that were looking at him with rage._

_Scared, he tried to move away from the bug pokémon but the weight in his back made it impossible. Araquanid kept looking bad at him but switched her eyes to his back to show him what was happening. Gladion moved from his position to see what was making the bug so angry. _

_At some moment in the night, Lana had fallen slept over him. _

_Embarrassed of the event, he tried to move again, but failed. Not only he didn’t want to wake up Lana in a rough way, but his body was still aching._ “Hey this is not my fault!” _He told the Pokémon, but she was still looking at him with anger._

_He was thinking what to do to move Lana from his back without make her angry, when a sound from the other side of the room caught his attention. Silvally appeared near the room’s door, looking like if he was just waking up._

“Oh… Hey Silvally, come here.” _Perhaps it would be easier to calm to Araquanid with the help of his pokémon. Silvally looked at him after hearing his voice. _“Help me with th… WAIT, NO!” _But of course, Gladion was not counting with Silvally’s happiness to see him ‘recovered’ and was unable to stop his Pokémon from cross the room at high speed to greet him._

_Like it was a slow-motion picture, Gladion saw his pokémon jumping happily to ‘hug’ him. At the sight, he forced his body to move and roll over to embrace Lana and then, roll out of the bed._

_The loud sound of the bed cracking under the weight and claws of Silvally echoed around the room, mixed with the cry of surprise from Lana from being waked in such a manner and the growled of pain from Gladion after falling from the bed with his friend over him._

“What happened?” _Asked Lana after realizing that both of them were in the floor._

“Arg… Blame… Silvally” _Both observed the quimera pokémon moving his tail’s fin from one side to another like if it was a happy dog, his front claws trapped under the broken mattress. Near him, Araquanid looked the scene with a deadly glare._ “Your Pokémon wants to… Kill me.”

“Why?”

“Maybe… Because you are on top of me and you don’t look to have the intention to move.”

“Ah!” _Quickly, she moved and took sit next to him._ “Hum… Is probably going to be stupid to ask how you feel.”

_Without moving of the floor, Gladion only looked at her with the most ironic expression he could made. _“Better than never… But hey, this is not your fault, I didn’t count that Silvally would jump like that.”

“Sun is not going to be happy when he learns that he needs to pay a new bed” _She said while taking care that Araquanid doesn’t attacked Gladion._

“I know…”

“And… What now?” _She asked timidly, since than yesterday their plans were crushed._

“I don’t know… But I don’t want to stay here all day.” _When he noticed that Lana wanted to protest, he decided to stop her._ “I know what Moon said, that I need rest, yet I don’t want to ruin your trip.”

“Is not only because Moon said so, is logic that you need to rest.”

_Gladion sighed while thinking how to convince her._ “Looks, staying in this room until we need to go back to Alola, is not for me, I don’t like to be enclosed. Besides, Moon told you that I have ‘survived’ worse situations, right? So, let’s go out somewhere, any place you want to visit. Remember that I owe you one for… Well, taking care of me.”

…

_Sometime later, they were walking around Celadon city, the most commercial city of Kanto. The place was different from any city of Alola, with big store buildings everywhere and lot of restaurants in a single street. _

“What is this?” _Asked Lana signaling a building adorned with lot of glowing signs._

“Let me see…” _Gladion looked at the tourist map he took from the hotel the day they arrived._ “It’s… A casino?”

“Casino? Sounds like the place Sun and Kiawe are always dreaming about… Oh better.”

“You bet they would die to enter one, those two can only think in money.”

“I don’t think they would build one in Alola.”

“Who knows? Maybe one day, in some years, we could have one.”

“Can you think what they will say if we send them pictures from inside?” _They exchanged a smile of complicity before running inside of the building. _

_It hasn’t happened an hour when they had already spammed Sun and Kiawe with photos of them playing with the different slot machines from the casino. _

“I think that Sun hates me now.” _Commented Gladion while showing Lana the message he just received in his cellphone, Sun message consisted in hundreds of angry emoticones._

_Lana wanted to make a remark about the message, but her cellphone started to ring, the screen indicated a videocall from Moon. She answered but was unable to hear anything inside the loudly building, so she took Gladion out and carried him into the bench of a ‘_, my body keeps aching… And I’m not losing my time, we already recovered some part of what I had to paid for the cave incident.”

“And he got me a Dratini.” Moon looked at Lana with confusion_._ “Ah! You can change some coins for Pokémon.”

“Yes… Oh hey Moon, Moon! Do you know you can get Porygons here for some coins? I think I can take some to Alola and let them live in the foundation!” Exclaimed Gladion with excitement_. _“I can try to get a bunch of other pokémon too for rehabilitation!”

“Look, I don’t want to ruin your idea but, you need to go back to the hotel and rest.” _Moon expected some angry reactions from her friends after saying that, but to her surprise, they were instead worried._ “What’s wrong?”

“Damn it! I never thought about how we are going to sleep today…” _Gladion send a horror look to Lana._

“Uhm… I think we need to explain.” _Commented Lana after noticing Moon wasn’t understand anything._ “Today in the morning… Something happened…” _Even if she couldn’t look at herself, she was sure that she was blushing after remembering the event from the morning and could bet that Moon was going to ask more about it later._ “And Silvally broke one of the beds.”

“He broke a bed? What did you told to the hotel’s staffs?”

“Nothing!” _They both answered quickly._

“You two just walked out of the hotel like if nothing?”

“Of course not_!” Gladion rushed to answer before Moon started a tantrum over their irresponsibility_. “We took cautions. We leaved the ‘Do not disturb!’ sign in the door and Araquanid stayed in the room to make sure nobody could enter. Then with our pokémon help, we go out by the window.” He explained proudly, but Moon was looking at him with an angry expression_._

“Gladion…”_ Moon voice sounded calm but dangerous at the same time. _“Are you an idiot or what?”

“Uh?”

_The pharmacist looked at her friends without giving credits to their irresponsibility, leaving them with confusion, in their minds it sounded like a good plan. _“Did you two considered what the hotel staffs is going to think?” _Since she didn’t get an answered, she proceeded to explain._ “Look, you are two youngs enclosed in a room for over 12 hours that don’t want to be bothered, then when they finally open the door and find a broken bed, what do you think they are going to believe that happened? Those signs exist for a reason… Yes, ‘THAT’ reason.”

_Lana and Gladion looked at each other processing the information. Five seconds where enough to make them blush hard after understanding._

“I’M DEAD! IF THE STUPID CAT OR HAU OR BY ARCEUS, IF MY MOTHER HEAR OF THIS, THEY AREN’T GOING TO HEAR THE REAL EXPLANATION OF THIS!”

_Lana tried to calm him down, but it looked impossible. Yet, inside she felt the panic too, if her parents learn about this, it would be hard to explain._ “And we still don’t know what to do about the bed...”

“You can took the bed!”

“What? But you are injured.”

“I’m not going to leave you sleep in the floor!”

“I’m not going to leave you neither! You got injured for my fault!”

_Moon observe the discussion, they had forgotten about the videocall._ “Hey, enough you two!” _Surprised, both looked back at the cellphone screen. _“Gladion, even if for unknown reasons you can survive attacks from pokémon, is not convenient for your body that you sleep in the floor after an electric attack.”

“But I’m not going to leave her to do it my place!”

“First calm down, and second, you have two options: Or you going to talk with the hotel staffs about the bed so they can move both of you to another room …”

“Remember the hotels are full in this time of the year! Also, if we tell them that, they are going to call the stupid cat and told him what happened! And if he learn what happened, he is never going to leave me alone!”

“Let me finish!” _Shouted Moon strong enough to scare him__. _“The staff is going to learn about the bed sooner or later… But anyway, your only other option, is to share the bed.”

…

“Why had to happen this? Why?”

_After returning to their hotel room without being seen, they found the big news that Araquanid transformed the area around the door in a full nest. The door was covered in cobweb and there were water paths coming from the bathroom, she probably tried to take possession of the bathtub again. Yet, even with the new mess, Gladion was more worried about his current situation than the state of the room. Lana had forced him to lay back in the bed, and she was sitting next to him to make sure he didn’t try to stand up again._

_It seemed that the romantic movie he watched with his mother was like a prophecy or something, he really felt like the protagonist of the movie, especially now that he was being forced to share the bed, with his best friend._

“If it makes you feel better… This would be the… Second time we share the bed.” _Commented a shy Lana, remembering what happened early that day. She was trying to hide her blush with the help of her cellphone, it looked she was texting with someone, probably Moon._

“Actually no, that doesn’t make me feel better.” _He answered while hiding his face with the pillow, this was getting more embarrassing every second._

“Do you… Mmm, are I’m that bad?” _In any another moment he would had thought the question was just a teasing, but her voice clearly indicated that she was serious._

“What? No!” _He rushed to say while removing the pillow. He can’t leave her feel bad for something that it wasn’t even her fault. Silvally, who at the moment was sleeping over the broken mattress, was his Pokémon after all and he didn’t stop him from breaking the bed._ “On the contrary… Looks, if it had to happen something like this, prefer that it was with you, really. It’s just that… Is not fair you had to pass through this.”

“Oh…” _They looked at each other without knowing what more to say, making it obvious that both were embarrassed by their situation._

_Gladion sighed a bit annoyed, but still give her a smile. The idea that crossed his mind would give him problems if any of his friends find about it, but taking advantage that they were alone, maybe he didn’t need to worry about it. The best was to stop giving more problems to Lana and start showing more appreciation for everything she has done for him._ “Don’t take this bad, but… Gimme a hug.”

“What?” _If Lana already feel embarrassed, his statement makes her want to die of shame. Gladion, offering a hug? Something was wrong there._ “I need to call Moon again, that electric attack did more damage of what we though.”

“Don’t do that!” _He requested whil0e sitting up on the bed and stopping her from do the call._ “I’m not injured, really!” Since Lana still try to call their friend, the boy snatched the cellphone from her hands_. _“Please don’t tell anyone about this! I asked because I was thinking that maybe I have been ungrateful to you all this time! You saved me from that guy, you hardly had some sleep last night for taking care of me, then you helped me to get some rest, I’m even here because of you! And even before this trip, you had done a lot of stuffs for me and give me company… And… And I don’t think I have properly thanked you for everything you had done for me… And… And I would like to do something for you in exchange, but I think this is the only thing I can do for you right now.”

_This was probably the first time he has said something like that. How can she be sure that it wasn’t because of his injury? Ok, he didn’t hit his head but still… Looking at him becoming a mess while trying to express his feelings was priceless. It would be a waste to not accept his offer, so she decided to tackle him in a strong em0brace._

“Arg!” And of course, the strong move make him feel pain again after both of them fell in the bed_._

“Oh… Sorry!”

“Ah, forget it… I just wasn’t expecting it like this.” _He commented with a smile to hide his pain._ “It surprises me that you always have this strength, I can’t understand from where is coming out.”

“Fishing help a lot!”

“Ah really? Well, after yesterday, I think I need to believe you in everything from now on.”

…

_When Lana woke up several hours later, she nearly had a heart attack._

_The night before she accepted Gladion’s offer of a hug, and it wasn’t that they never shared a hug before, but something was different this time. The previous ones were a gesture of congratulation, but this time was of gratitude? Or perhaps something more? It was difficult to describe, but they both agreed without a word to stay in the embrace longer of planed, accepting the gesture was comfortable._

_Of course, they didn’t expect that ‘longer’ would be the whole night while talking about different topics: Fishing? Good. Battles and training? Done! A plan to frustrate Sun and Hau with the Pikachu movie? Perfect! In the end, they had fallen sleep at some point… Without breaking their embrace._

_Lana’s first reaction was to panic, but if she tried to stand up, Gladion would wake up and after all what had happened, it was better to let him rest some more. The second was shame obviously, she would never have imagined that something like that will happen between the two. She was not going to complaint but, well, she was thankful that her friends weren’t around to make fun of them._

_She was tempted to keep watching his friend sleep until he woke up and see his reaction of what happened, however she doesn’t wanted to make him feel uncomfortable and that’s why she decided to maneuver out of his embrace without awakening him or worse, if she wake up her pokémon by accident causing her to attack Gladion if she realize what has happened._

_One hour later Gladion woke up, if he knew that they had fall sleep together was hard to say, he didn’t make a comment about it and she thought it was for the best to not bother him with the subject. They spent a quit morning focusing in equipping their stuffs and prepare to leave the hotel._

_By mutual agreement they decided to not explain what has happened in the room to the hotel staffs about the bathtub, the broken bed or the cobweb in the door. Irresponsible? Yes, but they didn’t feel like dealing with the questions the staffs could made, that could be leaved for later._

_The hard part was, for sure, delivering the room’s key to the receptionist. Gladion accepted the challenge to do it but was unable to avoid noticing that it looked like if other staffs members where talking about them behind his backs._

“I swear to you that I wanted to die! I couldn’t hear them, but I can guess what they were talking about! I’m sure they were thinking something happened between us!” Gladion said while they were waiting for their flight in the airport_. _“If someone learn about it…”

“I fear that sooner or later they will learn about it…” _Answered Lana seriously._ “Remember Sun is going to learn about the bed when the hotel charges him for it …”

“I thought that you were trying to cheer me up.” _He said with sarcasm._

“I can’t stop being realistic, we need to think in an excuse.”

“I knooooooow!” _In spite of having sounded annoying, he still gives her a smile._ “I’m going to take my revenge with spoiling them the movie.”

“Yeah!” The trip has helped them to remember how _malevolent they can be together, and how much they enjoy planning how to make everyone else suffer._

_…_

_The return trip was better than when they arrived in Kanto, Gladion stayed awake this time to give Lana a better company and even if they had spent the whole day talking already, they kept their conversation in the travel. It was a way to remember how much they enjoyed their company, without feeling tired of spending that much time together._

_After arriving in the Alola airport, they found that Lillie and Mallow where waiting for them. Moon was still in Sinnoh and the others were busy probably, Lana knew her mother had a reunion and Lusamine… Well, she was probably either busy with the foundation or watching another boring romantic movie._

“Brother!” _In less than 5 seconds Lillie had already tackle Gladion in an embrace, leaving him to_ hide a_ complain of pain; the attack from Hitmonchan was something that only Lana and Moon knew, and he didn’t wanted to concern Lillie._ “How did it go?”

“Ah… Fine.” _He said without sounding suspicious. _“How is everything here?”

“Like always… But for some reason Sun and Kiawe start crying from time to time and we don’t know why.” _Said Mallow confused, it looked that their two friends has been unable to explain about the photos from the casino._

“We can talk later, you both need to have some rest.” _Lillie took part of his luggage in spite of his protests, but at the end he accepted the help, he just couldn’t deny anything to her._

_Before following her, Gladion directed his attention to Lana, after spending the last days only with her, he felt weird to return to his normal life. _“Well… See you later.”

“Yeah… Later…” _A rare silence appeared between them, causing confusion between Lillie and Mallow._

“Eh… Goodbye?” _Without knowing what more to say, he tried to follow Lillie, but he was suddenly stopped by Lana’s hand._ “What’s wr -?”

_Before he finished speaking, Lana pulled him close and kissed him in the cheek, but before he was able to react or say something, Lana escaped the place quickly, making Mallow to ran after her confused and shouting her to stop and leaving Gladion paralyzed in the middle of the airport._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone, take care of your heal please


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gladion learn that hiding the truth is bad but he doesn't learn from the experience

_Lana was walking around the city after leaving her sisters with one of their friends, it has been two weeks since she had returned from Kanto and kissed Gladion in the airport, yet she has avoided contact with anyone outside her house. Her cellphone hasn’t stopped ringing from messages of her friends, that she deactivated the sound for every message or call that wasn’t from her family. Mallow, Lillie, Kiawe and even the recently arrived Moon, had visited her house, but Araquanid always warned her to give her time to scape._

_She didn’t want to see them; she knew they will try to talk with her about what happened even if some of them weren’t present. Mallow and Lillie probably told Moon about the kiss since they watched the scene, and who knows, maybe Kiawe and Sun knew too, it was hard to say at this time._

_And Gladion, she was not sure why she was avoiding him, it could be that she didn’t know what to tell him? Or maybe she feared his reaction? Or both? Just thinking about the subject was making her stressed._

_She was walking around one of the main streets of the city, when someone grabbed her from behind. _“Finally, I found you!”

_Few minutes later, she found herself in a coffee shop with the company of the person she didn’t wanted to see._

“Mmm… Can you tell me your reason for kidnapping me in a sudden way?” _She asked quietly after leaving the cup of tea she had ordered._

“Kidnapping? C’mon I even invited you to drink something.”

“Taking into account that you appeared from behind without announcing and forced me to come here, I would call it kidnapping with ninja skills.”

“Maybe I have learned from you.”

_An uncomfortable silence started between the two. This wasn’t looking good._ “Really, why do you bring me here?” _She breaks the silence, trying to look calm, but inside, she was drowning in shame._

“And you still ask? We NEED to talk!”

_Obviously, it was about ‘that'_. “It’s… Necessary?”

“Of course! Look, Lillie kicked me out from the foundation and …”

“Lillie?”

“Yeah!”

…

_Some hours before, Gladion was watching the Porygons, that he had brought from Kanto, getting used to their new home in the Aether Foundation. The pokémon looked happy of being free. The future leader of the foundation was analyzing the interaction from the Porygons with his own Porygon Z, when the elevator behind him opened._

“GLADION!”

“Don’t scream like that!” _The scream of Lillie nearly made him jump of surprise._

“What are you doing?” _Her voice was demanding, and when Gladion glanced at her, he started to think she looked so much like their mother when she gets angry._

“I’m observing the new Porygons, we need to see which environments they like the most and Moo-” _His explanation was stopped when Lillie started to drag him into the elevator, leaving his own Porygon Z confused. _“What are you doing!?”

“Asking you to go and search for Lana!”

“What? But I already call her 4 times every day and she doesn’t answer! If she doesn’t want to see me, I’m not going to force her!”

“Then I’m forcing you to do so!” _Demonstrating that she wasn’t a weak girl, Lillie opened the door of the building, and throw her brother outside._ “And you can’t return until you fix your relationship with her!” _After finishing talking, she closed the door, leaving a confused Gladion in the floor of the artificial isle._

…

“And seriously, I didn’t know she was that strong…” _The comment made him smile, he for sure wasn’t expecting her sister to act like that, she probably got that from their mother. _“So, she is not allowing me to enter any building of the foundation until I talk with you. She is probably angry because you haven’t answering her calls and messages and… Look, I understand if you don’t want to talk with me, but there is no reason to ignore your friends…”

“I wanted to be alone and think about… stuffs.”

“Hey, I said I understand, everyone gets confused sometimes and I do like to think alone about my problems too, but… Some days ago, you scolded me for avoiding all of you and now you are doing the same.”

“Maybe we have more in common of what we thought.”

“Ah yeah, the trip helped me to understand that. So hummm… Since when?”

_She didn’t need an explanation; it was obvious what was he asking about. Sooner or later they would have to speak of the subject after all._ “I think, since you began to avoid us.” _For some reason the surface of the table was very interesting at that moment and it helped her to not look back at the boy, she was sure that if she looked up back to him, her emotions would hit like a tsunami._ “When you began to avoid us, I realized it wasn’t the same without your company… And I don’t know, I missed you.”_ Even if she couldn’t see herself, she can feel she was blushing hard_.

“Oh…”

_His lack of an actual answer only made her felt worse. At least she expected for him to said something, but with his silence, the only way to know what he was thinking would be looking back at him and she was trying to avoid doing so._

“Sorry but...” _When she hears his voice after some seconds of silence, she couldn’t stop herself to finally look at him._ “Probably you aren’t going to like this, but… Errr… Do you know you look cute right now?”

_Well! That was not what she was expecting to hear, yet the effect was the same, she now wanted to disappear._ “I’m going to punch you!”

“Wait, no!” _He moved quickly to stop her; her reaction was attracting a lot of attention from the other customers._ “I'm sorry! Is just… Is rare to see you like this, I’m more used to see you wanting to murder someone and is an interesting change, Ok?”

“Don’t play with me.” _Hiding her_ _blushing was now impossible__._

“I am not playing, really!” _Now, he was sure he was going to feel as ashamed as her in any moment, trying to stay calm was a priority now._ “Anyway, I wasn’t expecting for you to feel like that about me. It took me by surprise and well, now I feel like an idiot for not noticing it before.”

“Moon said the same.”

“And Lillie has shouted it to me all these days, so is not a surprise. Maybe it would have been better if I said something the day we… Shared the bed.” _The memory of that day made him to finally match Lana in blushing._

“You remember it?”

“Of course, you fell asleep first.”

“EH! Why you didn’t wake me up?”

“Ah I couldn’t. Errr you are probably going to laugh at me but… look, you are always like a storm but when you are sleep, is all the contrary. And made me think that your behaviors are similar to the sea, sometimes is strong enough to destroy anything but you can be calm and peaceful too and…” _He stopped after hearing that Lana was laughing at him, now he was sure that a Charmeleon would look pale at his side._ “Arg forget it, ignore what I said!”

“You are weird.” _Her laugh stopped slowly. “But that is one of your charms”. _

_A light silence appeared again between the two, giving him the time to calm down; but he knew that he cannot leave the conversation end like this, they needed a conclusion._ “Ummm… Now what?”

_The girl looked at him with confusion about the question. _“That is something you need to decide. You already know how I feel, but I can’t answer for you…”

_If it wasn’t because the subject was something serious, he would have facepalmed with both hands for making a stupid question; of course, she can’t answer something that involve him._

_ After she kissed him in the airport, and after Lillie, Mallow and Moon scolded him for his lack of action, it was obvious that Lana has feelings for him, but the real question right now is… How did he feel about her?_

“I… The truth is… I’m not… sure.” _The words where spelled slowly, he needed to think very well what was going to say, if he made an error, it could ruin everything. The big problem is that the intense attention Lana was giving to him was starting to make him nervous, but he wasn’t sure of why. _“I can’t deny that I like your company… Or that I felt very bad every time I ignored your invitations, but… I can’t comprehend what exactly I’m feeling. Maybe… Mmmm, maybe the only thing I can ensure, is that I would be a complete idiot if I let you go without… Err… Try it?”

_The last part was said so lowly that Lana doubted to hear it. It was not a surprise he felt so confused about the whole subject. Moon and Lillie had warned her already that Gladion would be someone hard to get into a relationship, thanks to a mix of his attitude and her emotional conflicts. _

_But if Lillie could ensure something, was that, when his brother appreciated someone a lot, he demonstrated it very natural, his behaviors around those persons become different so slowly, that he doesn’t even realize it. And Lana already checked it thanks to the trip. Perhaps that was the reason of why the others bothered the boy a lot, he had already changed the way he treated her, and it was so different, even compared with his own sister._

_Yet, even if she was able to understand what he couldn’t, it would be a bad idea to force him to acknowledge his feelings in a sudden way. Maybe the best would be to leave him go slowly, until he understands his own emotions. There was nothing to lose if she waits for him, especially if he wanted to try a relationship._

_Lana moved enough to hit him in the head to call his attention since the boy was lost looking at the table surface, probably too ashamed of what he has said._ “Uh, I thought you had already passed out in the chair.”

“What? No! I only… Uh… I'm sorry, I no… Errr… If you don’t want, I…”

_Oh, she can’t deny how adorable the boy was when he became a mess. That perhaps was a plus to be with him._

“Hey, calm down!” _She hit him again to stop his babbling__._ “You know, I received a letter some days ago.”

_The expression of embarrassment that the boy had was priceless. His declaration and the confusion caused by the change of the conversation were making miracles in his expression. _“Uh?”

“They invited me to another fishing competition, in Johto and… Do you want to accompany me?”

_For some seconds the boy only looked at her without saying anything. Did the question was too out of place? It would had been better to ask it in another time? Or perhaps…_

Zas!

_Gladion punched the table, stopping her thoughts; making her believe that he was angry, but a quick glance at him was enough to see that he looked happy, maybe even thrilled._

“Freacking Yes!”

_That was enough for her. She can’t force him to run without first teach him how to walk. They can go slow, step by a step, and then, the time will say how far they can go._

**.: Fin :.**

.

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Or maybe no?

_They went out of the coffee shop to search for a more private place to talk, when the cellphone started ringing indicating the arrival of a lot of messages. Alarmed, they looked at each other and with a silent agreement, Gladion decided to look at his phone. Over 100 messages were already waiting to be read, but to his horror, the number were increasing every second._

‘Hey cousin! What is all that about Silvally being called Alolan Absol? Burnet and I keep receiving questions about it and we don’t know what is happening. Can you come to my lab for a talk?' Prof. Kukui

‘YOU BETTER SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM WITH LANA ALREADY OR YOU ARE GOING TO SLEEP OUTSIDE!' Lillie

‘Hey, have you talked with Lana already? What are you waiting for?' Mallow

‘I’m taking your stuffs out, so you better solve the problem now! ' Lillie

‘Gladion dear, what is this Alolan Absol? Kukui is confused and doesn’t know how to answer the hundreds of mails we keep receiving every day about it.' Prof. Burnet

‘HOW DARE YOU GO TO A CASINO AND NOT INVITE ME? WHAT TYPE OF FRIEND ARE YOU??' Kiawe

‘I think you already know, but Lillie wants to kick you out of Aether if you don’t fix your problem with Lana. Lillie sent me some photos of her taking out your stuffs and really, talk with Lana already, she keeps ignoring my calls and is probably your fault.' Moon

‘WHY IS THE HOTEL CHARGING ME A BED AND A BATHROOM? WHAT THE HELL DID LANA AND YOU DID IN THAT ROOM?' Stupid cat

‘IS TRUE THAT LANA AND YOU BROKE A BED? YOU BOTH ARE TOO YOUNG FOR THAT! ' Hau

‘Gladion darling, why did Hala send me a message asking me if I’m going to be a grandmother? What did you do this time?' Lusa- Mother

‘I received alarming news regarding you from my grandson, and I decided that is it the time for you and the other kids to receive… Ejem, education… according to your age. All of you are still TOO YOUNG for what you did, but maybe is better to give you all the “Talk”. Kahuna Olivia and Kahuna Nanu agreed about the idea of teaching you kids the best ways to keep your safe and Kahuna Nanu accepted to explain everything needed. That’s why I expect all of you in Tapu Koko’s Altar at 17:00 hrs for your education. Don’t miss it! ' Kahuna Hala

‘Glady, do you know why Kahuna Hala sent me this message? What is uncle Nanu going to teach us? I don’t understand' Cpt. Acerola

‘By Arceus Gladion! Is true what Hau is saying about you and Lana?' Cpt. Ilima

‘PAID ME EVERYTHING YOU BROKE IN THAT ROOM!' Stupid cat

‘GLADION WHAT DO YOU DID TO LANA? WHAT IS THAT MESSAGE FROM KAHUNA HALA? AND WHY OUR MOTHER IS SCREAMING SHE IS GOING TO BE A GRANDMOTHER?' Lillie

‘YOU AND LANA WHAT?' Mallow

‘BUT YOU GUYS ARE STILL TOO YOUNG! WHY YOU DIDN’T WAIT MORE TIME FOR THAT? ' Hau

‘Gladion, it looks that your secret about the bed was discovered and is spreading in a wrong way, you better be prepared for a series of uncomfortable messages from the others.' Moon

‘YOU HAD TO WAIT UNTIL MARRIAGE!' Hau

‘WE THRUSTED YOU! HOW COULD YOU DID THAT TO LANA? YOU ARE STILL TOO YOUNG!' Kiawe

‘Hey Gladion! Seriously, come quickly to explain us about Silvally and by the way… Errr… Congratulations to you and Lana? You both are still too young but, hey! Stuffs happens!' Prof. Kukui

‘GLADION I’M TOO YOUNG TO BE A GRANDMOTHER!' Lusa- Mother

_The messages kept arriving. Now Lana was scared to see her cellphone and see if her mother has sent her a message asking about the misinformation._

“Errr… Maybe it would be better to disappear from this region for a while?” _With an obvious embarrassed expression, Gladion looked at Lana for help. Their friends really misinterpreted what happened._

“Aren’t that going to make stuffs worse?”

“I want to think that they will forget everything if we find a good gift for them.”

“… Where do you want to go?”

“As far away as we can.”

“Galar!”

“Good. Let’s use our ‘ninja skills’ to get everything we need and met in one hour.”

“You are a good disciple; I trust your skills.”

“I learned from the best!”

_The sounds from their cellphones were getting louder and louder with every new message that arrived, maybe would be better to change their numbers._

‘Since I know both of you think in a similar way, I can already see you both planning to escape from this mess. Anyway, I’m not going to stop you or anything, but you guys better don’t destroy another hotel room. And Good luck!' Moon

**.: Fin! :.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And is over. I'll try to fix errors from all the chapters later.
> 
> Stay safe!

**Author's Note:**

> And this is the start! Again, I'm sorry if something sounds weird, Google Translator is my only help with this.
> 
> I maybe took a bit from anime Lana and added it to her manga version, maybe you know it already, but anime Lana have something like an obsession for muscles, let's just say that is where the thing for "strong" come for, her manga version is more like a fighter so I think it fits her too. Her "training" for Gladion was mostly to make her run around for no reason (they were just kids after all), maybe didn't make him win a lot of muscles but it helped to make him less squishy (idk others but he need to bulk up a bit).
> 
> The idea is to make this a 7 chapters fic, I hope someone wants to try this weird ship along with me.
> 
> See ya later.


End file.
